The Fairy Rangers
by CarnelianFox
Summary: Four Pokemon Rangers with wizard capabilities decide to join Fairy Tail. If things weren't in high gear already, they meet two orphaned sons of a renowned Exceed scholar, discover things about themselves and the world around them, and combat Black Magic in ways that few would ever dream of. Contains my usual pairings from each. Will get more interesting in later chapters.
1. The Rangers' Choice

**I do not own Pokemon or Fairy Tail. It is really irritating for me to not put the accent there, but I can't on account of the device I am using for this first chapter and possibly others in the future. This is an idea that's been rolling around in my head for about a year now. That is a long time for me to have an idea unwritten. It took time to develop and think about. Then school started and it's been a year and I've been itching to write again and now I'm rambling and don't feel the need to stop even though I should.**

 **Just a note: the main Rangers in this story also have Ranger as a Trainer Class. I know those two don't normally double up, but I think that in some cases they should because we have had a lot of evidence within the three Pokemon Ranger games that they both reside in the same physical world.**

 **I do own some OC's that occur in this story. Please see my profile for details. Okay, I'll leave the disclaimer and A/N as is. Enjoy! Please! PLEEEASE!**

 **Pichu: (strums the ukulele)**

 **By the way, this first chapter is technically a prologue, but I'm not calling it a prologue because the numbering will throw me off later.**

 **Chapter 1: The Rangers' Choice**

Professor Hastings had called in four of his Top Rangers to Ranger Union HQ on a temperate winter morning one day, prepared to offer them a life-changing opportunity. Pacing about on the third floor, impatient as ever, he grumbled, "I wish they'd hurry so I can let them decide how to use their talents."

The four Rangers in question, two male and two female, all in their mid-to-late-teens, appeared on the third floor and lined up in front of him. The taller boy, Ben, with his hair high, smiling in both his brown eyes and his lips, and his trusty Ukulele Pichu (and his primary Pokemon) by his side, pleasantly greeted, "Hey, Professor. You look chipper as always."

Next to Ben was Thomas, who was a couple inches shorter and wore glasses in front of his green eyes. Giving a slight bow, he greeted, "Good morning, Professor." His partner (and primary Pokemon), Vileplume, copied the bow, trying not to topple over on account of his large flower (yes, this Vileplume is male).

Next to Thomas was Hannah, a girl with curly brown hair that fell to about shoulder length, martial arts skills that could best Arley the Destroyer, and a Combusken standing at attention. She grasped Thomas' hand and smiled.

"Hello, Professor, and what do we owe the pleasure to?" Ranger Summer asked, one arm around Ben and the other around her Staraptor. Unlike Hannah, she had straight hair that she grew out to shoulder length. Professor Hastings grinned ear to ear when he heard her ask the golden question.

"An excellent question, Summer! Now, I've taken into account that you've been a close-knit group since the Oblivia mission in your early teenage years, so you'll probably want to stick together. What I'm offering you is the chance to put your magical abilities to more applicable affiliations. Now, you'll still be Pokemon Rangers…"

"You want us to join a magic guild," Thomas summed up Professor Hastings proposition.

"Bingo. It's a fun business without money laundering," Professor Hastings replied.

"I'd hope there'd be no money laundering going on there," Hannah said.

"Yeah. I wouldn't know where to find a washing machine that could handle it," Thomas replied humorously. In the world of puns, good and bad were equivalents. Ben burst into laughter, and Hannah, Summer, and the Pokemon soon after.

"Puns aside, we all know that you four, among others, have highly developed magical skills that could be put to good use in a guild. I happen to be acquainted with some guild masters, so discuss amongst yourselves which guild you'd like to join and I can put in a good word for you," Hastings instructed.

"Actually, we're way ahead of you on that," Hannah proudly informed him.

"We all thought it'd be awesome to join Fairy Tail!" Thomas exclaimed, barely bridling his enthusiasm.

"They have the same sense of camaraderie that the Ranger Union has, so in a way, it'd be just like home to us," Summer chimed in.

"Besides, we're about as rambunctious as they are. I mean, have you seen us play cards?" Ben added with a genuine smile. The professor could only sigh at the thought. Such a thing only ever ended up in a cluster of disastrous antics. Running naked with a pair of scissors in each hand was probably safer than playing cards with them.

"Pichu!" Pichu added, seeming to agree.

"You'll fit in just fine…" Hastings sighed again. Looking at Thomas, he asked, "Did you find it?"

"You mean this?" the bespectacled teen asked, summoning a katana from thin air. A strong breeze radiated from the sword and filled the room. Yes, this was the Requip he just used. "A legendary sword. The Gale Force Sword: Tempest."

"Another addition to your _vast_ collection of blades," Hannah said lightheartedly.

"I have an obsession," Thomas claimed sheepishly.

"For you, it's blades. For me, it's bows and crossbows and projectile weapons," Summer chuckled as she compared their obsessions. In addition to being more than decent with wind magic, she had very keen aim, not unlike her partner Predatory Pokemon.

"I'm partial to fire, personally," Hannah admitted with a humored grin. This made her Combusken look pleased.

"Let the record show that I helped him find it. This makes up for him helping me find this," Ben smiled confidently as he said this. He reached for a small dagger sheath attached to his belt and yanked out a 3-foot sword with Pokemon Emblems going up the middle of the blade. This sword was called the Blade of the Hero, the weapon on the Hero of Oblivia.

Ben was able to use light magic. Stemming from this ability and the ability to call on Pokemon he had befriended and gained the Emblem or Ranger Sign of, he could invoke the abilities of Pokemon within his own body. However, maintaining such a state was incredibly difficult and didn't usually last beyond a couple of attacks.

"Amun's mansion was full of all kinds of secret passageways. I felt like I was in some sort of mystery novel," Thomas reflected fondly on that adventure.

"I'll get in touch with Makarov, then," the elderly man assured. To himself, he muttered, "Hurry, hurry, hurry!" Then, he sped off to the nearest means of oversea communication.

Meanwhile, Makarov was in the back of the Fairy Tail guild, on a lacrima, talking to Professor Hastings. He marveled, "Interesting. Yes, I've heard about them before. They saved the entire Oblivia region. Sure, they're welcome. Send them right over-" He barely finished when all four of the teenagers in question appeared in the guild hall out of thin air.

"That was a doozy," Ben said dizzily.

"Thank you, Gardevoir," Summer thanked the Pokemon she had captured via the Capture Styler as the Gardevoir teleported away.

"You youngsters aren't Top Rangers for nothing," Makarov said with a smirk of admiration.

"We're really here!" Thomas stood up and gasped in awe. He faced Makarov and said, "Hello, sir. How are you?"

"Fine, thanks," Makarov replied. "Here's a mission for you; prepare for a life unlike any other."

"In that case, we've already completed it," Ben claimed. "We sort of figured that out when we met each other."

A barstool came flying at them. In an instant, Vileplume jumped up and used Cut, splitting it in half. The powerful, elegant, and redheaded Erza Scarlet came over and crouched down to meet Vileplume's crimson eyed gaze. She smiled and complimented, "What excellent reflexes you have!"

"Erza Scarlet just complimented my Vileplume…!" Thomas gasped in excitement, nearly falling over. Luckily, Hannah was able to keep him on his feet. "Thanks, Hannah. You're the best! I am probably too excited to be here."

"I see a half naked guy," Summer stated, gesturing towards Gray jumping on Natsu.

"That's Gray. Our very own exhibitionist," Erza muttered and leaped onto both boys. "Put some clothes on!"

"This is going to be incredibly interesting," Ben hypothesized as he joined Natsu, Gray, and Erza in their brawl.


	2. The Orphaned Brothers

**Here's the second chapter. I finally get to use these characters! Yay!**

 **Chapter 2: The Orphaned Brothers**

A year had passed since the four Pokémon Rangers had joined the guild. As predicted, they fit in just fine. Moreover, their Pokémon were well-adored within Fairy Tail. Pichu would even do mini-concerts on Friday nights. Those would always soothe the inevitable brawls that occurred when certain people got too rowdy. For a wizard guild, that was true magic.

On a cold winter afternoon, Thomas and Ben were on their way back to the guild from a very successful mission arresting outlaws. They broke up a crime ring and, in the process, an ugly statue in the town square. For once, Fairy Tail's destructive tendencies earned it a bonus. They were on the sidewalk on the left side of the street. Simultaneously, they both saw something that triggered their "do-the-right-thing" instincts. Two Exceeds were cuddled together in an alley. They both had longer, thicker fur than the Exceeds that the two Fairy Tail wizards were used to seeing.

One of the Exceeds had white fur, a gray-tipped tail, gray-tipped ears, a black tank top and red-brown pants. His shimmering green eyes were half open, and he was holding his side with a hurt grimace on his face. Most notably, he wore a red headband. The other Exceed was gray-furred with a white-tipped tail, white-tipped ears, blue pajamas, and glasses over his glittering gold eyes. A small gold charm was tied around his neck with a gray cord, and his face was flushed and sickly. Their fluffy chest tufts gushed from their tattered shirts. Had they been on the run?

"They look like they need help," Ben assumed and the two sprinted over to the cats.

Thomas knelt down by the gray one and felt his forehead. With a grave look in his eyes, he muttered, "He has a high fever. And I'm worried the chill in the air will only make it worse." When he wasn't on Ranger-specified duty, part of his casual attire was a light-gray zip-up hoodie with a chest pocket. He shed the hoodie and wrapped it around the bespectacled cat, cradling him in his arms. He had a soft spot for cats. And foxes (including his Braixen). And Hannah. And Vileplume. And mashed potatoes. Mm! Mashed potatoes…

Ben moved the white cat's paw. He informed his comrade, "And this one's got a nasty-looking wound. We've gotta get these two back to the guild!"

The white Exceed struggled a bit, murmuring, "My brother… I need to…help my brother…" Trying to put him at ease, Pichu played a soft tune on its ukulele. The white cat whispered, "Never…we are never going back to the orphanage…"

"Who said anything about an orphanage? We're taking you to an infirmary," Ben informed him, smiling. "I'm Ben. This is my buddy, Pichu."

"Pichu!" Pichu greeted.

"I'm Egon…" the white cat introduced himself weakly, and then winced in pain.

"Easy! You'll be okay!" Ben assured as he applied pressure to Egon's wound.

"I'm Aaron…" the gray cat introduced himself, and then coughed into his elbow.

"I'm Thomas, and I'm getting you someplace where you can get help," Thomas returned the introduction, determined to give Aaron the help he needed. "Vileplume, let's go!" The Grass- and Poison-type ran with its partner by its side. Vileplume had undergone a lot of speed and special attack training over the years, accentuating its strong points and building upon its weaker points. Now, it was rather agile for a Grass-type. Ben and Pichu followed in hot pursuit.

Meanwhile, Erza was enjoying a slice of strawberry cake as Lucy sat across from her, reading a book. They felt a profound sense of urgency lingering in the breeze that went by as the two Pokémon Rangers raced in without even their usual hello. Erza called after them, asking, "Where's the fire, boys?"

"Feel this kid's forehead and you'll find out!" Thomas called back as Ben explained what little they knew about the situation to Mirajane, who promptly escorted them to the infirmary in the back.

Luckily, Porlyusica was there, chatting with Makarov. Well, chiding would actually be more accurate. "You should take better care of yourself! As able as you are, you're not as young as you used to be! Stop trying to 'live it up' with the young people!"

"I am fit as a fiddle and you know it!" Makarov spat back. "I just pulled a muscle in my back. That's all!"

Ignoring Makarov's insistence, Porlyusica turned to the teenage boys and saw the Exceeds in their arms. She instructed, "Set them each on a bed." She walked into a conjoining room to get her first aid kit and as many medicines and potions as she could carry. They did as they were told, and Vileplume fluffed their pillows and tucked them in.

Gajeel happened to be sleeping in the corner when his sensitive ears alerted him to the sound of cuteness. Cats breathing! The Iron Dragon Slayer shot up like a rocket and saw them. His smile turned into a concerned scowl as he asked, "What's up with them?"

"The white one is injured—hopefully, the wound isn't infected—and the gray one is ill," Thomas answered as he sat in a chair by Aaron's side. "Wait, what are you doing here?"

"Seeing how long it would take for the old bat to kick me out," Gajeel answered gruffly. "Those cats look like they've seen a lot of action. Wow, they're so fluffy!"

"Keep to your own cat," Ben recommended.

"I would like to bury my face in that chest tuft…" Thomas said, more to himself than to anyone else.

Within the passing hours, Porlyusica had treated both Exceeds, who now just needed rest. Neither of the teenage boys had even thought of leaving. They sat and waited. Elfman peeked at them from around the corner. With admiration, he choked on tears of manliness. "Such perseverance is the epitome of manliness."

"You should scout out sheep instead of other people. It's getting late," Erza said to him as she rounded the corner and entered. "That goes for you as well. You should go home. They'll be there in the morning."

"If it's all the same, I'll stay," Thomas replied. Never had he denied Erza before, but now was different.

"Same. It'll be easier on them to see somewhat familiar faces when they wake up in a strange place," Ben added onto Thomas' remark.

Hearing their responses made Erza smile. She couldn't help it. She remarked, "You two really do fit into this guild quite well. You know about loyalty and have it in your fellow guild mates. We're all a family. And something tells me that you both want them to join our family."

"Ichiya broke the Dragon Slayer-Exceed partnership trend—the one good thing I can think of him doing that wasn't painstakingly flamboyant—and paved the way for Levy and later us," Thomas confirmed Erza's hunch with an explanation.

"No, it was over the top in flamboyancy," Erza muttered, suddenly nauseated. She then fainted at the thought of Nichiya and Ichiya's "Double Stud Muffin Attack".

"Again?" Ben remarked as he munched on a granola bar. He looked at Egon, studying the red cloth headband tied over his forehead. "That headband must mean a lot to him."

"You think so?" Thomas asked as he dragged Erza to the edge of a third bed, propped her up, and attempted to lift her onto it.

"Yeah. Call it intuition," Ben replied. "So these two are brothers… Which one do you think is older?"

They looked at each other intensely. Thomas answered "Aaron" at the same time Ben answered "Egon", but they looked so close in age (not to mention Exceeds perceive time differently than humans) that it was hard to tell. But, if anyone had to guess, Aaron and Egon both looked about 13. They probably were as close in age as they looked, since, for all of their complexity; Exceed gestation and incubation periods didn't last nearly as long as human gestation periods.

Natsu and Happy snuck into the room to eye the two cats. Natsu asked, "So these are the new guild members?"

"We were hoping to bring it up with Master Makarov," Thomas informed the Fire Dragon Slayer. "Natsu, can you please help me lift Erza onto this bed?"

"Only if I can draw on her face," Natsu said with a mischievous glint in his onyx eyes.

"So, about these new guild members…" Happy mumbled as he looked at Egon and then Aaron.

"I'll allow it," Makarov yawned, slumped up against one of the bed frames.

"I was wondering if they liked fish, but cool!" Happy exclaimed with a satisfied smile on his true-to-his-name face.

Ben looked down at the elderly man. "Oh, hey, Master. I didn't see you there. You're still here?"

"I'm not leaving until Porlyusica admits that I'm right," Makarov yawned. "Besides, I'm rather proud of the resolve you and Thomas have to these cats—especially since you barely know them. I think you've given them friends for life and a chance to start anew."

"Egon said something about never going back to an orphanage," Ben informed the guild master.

"Did he now? He probably escaped with his brother to avoid the risk of them being separated," Makarov theorized. "Whatever the case may be, they need a home. Fairy Tail can provide one. All we need is for them to say yes come morning."

When morning came, Aaron woke up before Egon. He looked around and saw Thomas drinking coffee from a mug with Fairy Tail's insignia on it. He gasped, "We made it all the way to Magnolia?!"

"Yeah. You sure did. Is it all that far from where you and your brother came from?" the bespectacled young man asked the bespectacled cat.

"Not originally. I mean, it is from the orphanage we broke out of, but not from where we lived before…" Aaron began, but choked up as his eyes watered. "Not before our parents died." Before he knew it, Thomas had his arms around him. "W-what?"

"That's rough. I know… But I can't even imagine how much pain I'd be in if I had to lose both of them as a kid," Thomas said with soft eyes. "A lot of people here know that's a hard thing to go through."

"I'm glad my older brother and I still have each other. I-is Brother alright?" Aaron sniffled and asked.

"Yeah. Don't worry; both of you were treated by the best medical expert in Ishgar," Thomas assured and scratched Aaron between the ears, earning a purr from the gray Exceed. "That's a nice necklace you have."

"Thank you. It belonged to my motherrrr," Aaron purred affectionately.

"And this headband belonged to our dad," a voice chimed in. Egon was awake and sitting up, smiling brightly at the sight of his healthy little brother.

"Brother! You're up!" Aaron exclaimed cheerily.

"Yeah. I guess we owe these people our thanks," Egon decided.

"Actually, we were going to offer you the chance to stay with us. Please join Fairy Tail!" Thomas begged them. "Please, please, please!"

"Fairy Tail? As in _the_ Fairy Tail?!" Egon gasped.

"That's right, Brother! We're in Magnolia Town!" Aaron happily informed his brother.

"And we wouldn't dream of separating you. Well, not long-term separation. It's not like you two use the toilet together," Natsu said as he sprouted out from under the bed.

"You stayed with us?" Thomas asked the pink haired fire wizard as the latter poked Ben's face (Ben was out like a light at this point).

"Yep. And those girlfriends of yours are sleeping on the tables in the main part of the guild hall," Natsu replied as he drew a mustache on Ben's face.

Carla and Happy flew in together. Happy introduced Carla before himself. "This is Carla, the most beautiful woman in the whole guild! I'm Happy, the guy who taste tests all of Fairy Tail's fish entrees!"

"Oh, good! We love fish!" Egon responded cheerily.

"Even if Egon tends to overcook them…" Aaron added sheepishly.

"I'm not that bad!" Egon defensively protested. In truth, he was not a great cook.

"Oh, you know I love you, Brother," Aaron reminded him.

"Did they join?!" Ben awoke and sat straight up. Aaron and Egon couldn't help but giggle at his ink mustache.

"So, what do you guys say?" Thomas asked. "Will you join our guild?"

Happy and Carla hugged each other and looked at their fellow Exceeds, awaiting a response.

The brothers exchanged glances, seemingly fitting a whole conversation in that single instant. Aaron nodded eagerly and Egon responded, "Point us to the guild master!"

As if on cue, Ben nudged Makarov. "Master, you're being summoned."

"Screw the Council," Makarov snored.

"It's not the Magic Council. It's the boys. They've said yes," Thomas informed the elderly man.

"Hmm…? Oh, wonderful," Makarov yawned. "Let Mirajane stamp them in."

"You need a shot of Juvia's coffee," Thomas recommended and Makarov bolted out of the infirmary. "Juvia makes really good coffee."

"That, Juvia does!" Juvia called out from the main part of the guild.

Egon looked around in sudden panic, but then sighed in relief to see a tote bag strung on the bed frame. "Good. Dad's journals and our other mementos are safe."

"Journals?" Ben echoed.

"Vileplume!" Vileplume exclaimed in delight as he took a sip of Thomas' coffee.

"Our dad was a scholar," Aaron exclaimed. "I still miss Mom and Dad."

"It's alright to miss them. I think they're watching over us, Aaron, and having some of their things make me feel a little closer to them," Egon assured in full confidence.

Hannah and Summer were peaking in, smiling happily. Hannah remarked, "Those two have matured a lot since we were in Oblivia. Can you believe we were only 13 then? We took down a huge mega-weapon!"

"I think we've matured a lot, too," Summer replied. "I'm just happy those kids get a second chance."

"Yeah…" the curly haired girl said as they looked on.


	3. Freedom

**Hi! Welcome to chapter 3, the only places to be! Yippee! Okay, I'll stop rhyming. Anyway, this is another powerful chapter with a glimpse at an Exceed's background. Sometimes, I just find Exceeds easier to write about. I don't know why. Anyway, here's the third chapter. Enjoy!**

 **Chapter 3: Freedom**

It was about a week since Egon and Aaron joined Fairy Tail and partnered up with Ben and Thomas respectively. Summer decided to take a solo job catching a con artist who specialized in gun magic and status-inflicting Bug-types, which worked out well for her because she was an excellent archer who was partnered with a Staraptor and caught a Litwick a few months back.

Summer arrived in the town of Hibiscus after figuring out where the con artist—known as Apamea—would most likely head. Hibiscus was not a large town by any means, but it was densely populated. There was a multitude of people to scam and the crowds were just big enough to slip into and hide in.

Summer checked the wanted poster for the job. Apamea had green eyes and purple hair that was normally tied in a bun. Summer muttered to herself as she read the description, "Suspect usually wears a trench coat to carry counterfeit merchandise, Poké Balls, and magic items used for self defense. Is to be considered armed and dangerous. And the bounty is set at 50,000J."

"Star…" Staraptor seemed to chirp as it studied the photo closely.

"You ready?" Summer asked her avian friend. Receiving a nod from her Pokémon, she hopped onto its back and took to the sky. She studied a large crowd closely. Using Requip, she summoned a crossbow with a scope attached. Intensely peering through the scope, making sure she left no nook or cranny unchecked, she finally managed to identify Apamea selling fake jewelry at a little makeshift stand. Summer aimed carefully and shot an arrow of wind, knocking a cheap-looking necklace out of her hand.

"What the…?" Apamea looked stunned. "It looks like I have to pack it up again…" She pulled out two guns from her coat and knocked her customer over, then used the counter as cover. "Take this! Spiral Flame Shot!"

Summer saw several fireballs fly at her in spiraled patterns of movement. She warned Staraptor, "This is going to be close! Hang on, partner!" She guided Staraptor past each fireball, having more close shaves than to her liking.

"That bird's fast. Alright!" Apamea grunted as she switched to a different pistol. "Try dodging one of my Stealth Shots!" She pulled the trigger and the hammer clicked, but it appeared as though nothing exited the chamber.

Suddenly, an invisible force exploded upon Summer and Staraptor, knocking them out of the sky and in front of the stand. The female Ranger hugged Staraptor tightly and took the brunt of the impact. She groaned, "Man, sidewalks are murder on your back…" She put Staraptor in a comfortable position and summoned a long bow, turning to face the stand where Apamea sheltered herself. "Show yourself and fight me like a true marksman."

Laughing, Apamea stood up and got out of the stand with a Venomoth. She said, "I know about you. They call you the Raptor Queen. Now I see you're all talk. They'll make anyone a Top Ranger these days. Fairy Tail is way too accepting to boot."

"You abuse magic, the abilities of your Pokémon, and people's trust. Don't add onto that by abusing the Union's name. Or, for that matter, Fairy Tail's!" Summer yelled and pulled back on the bow string. She had no arrow ready, but that was okay. She didn't need it. With eyes like a fierce predator, she released the string and a powerful gust of force knocked Apamea and Venomoth back into the stand, reducing it to shredded cloth and broken planks.

"Why you little…" Apamea grumbled. "Venomoth, Stun Spore!"

Summer braced herself for the paralyzing powder as Venomoth initiated the onslaught, but to her surprise, the spores never hit it. Staraptor, with whatever strength it had left, whipped up a Whirlwind attack and blew the powder right back at their opponents. Giving Staraptor an appreciative nod, she swiftly tackled and handcuffed Apamea.

A while later, Rune Knights arrived and carted Apamea away, giving Summer 55,000J. She didn't know where the extra five thousand came from, but she didn't question it. She tried not to question what she didn't understand, learning from Thomas' tendency not to let the lack of understanding go until a burger was put in front of him. Then she remembered she was going to sell some gold nuggets she found on the way over. Doing so at a local Poké Mart (how convenient, right?), she increased her profits of the day to an astonishing 155,000J.

Summer treated Staraptor before leaving Hibiscus. She had reached the outskirts of town when she came upon a huge mansion. To no one at all, she said aloud, "I wonder who lives there."

Her gaze shifted from the house to the yard where she saw two Exceeds. One was very tall and rather big-boned. He wore fancy clothes and was fine furred, which she had assumed all Exceeds were until she met Aaron and Egon. Most noticeably, there was a bundle of bandages coating part of the big Exceed's face. He hollered at the smaller Exceed, "Aiko, you've really done it this time!"

The other Exceed was a long furred female. Her fur was pink with ears and a tail tipped an even darker pink. Tied to her tail tufted was a neatly tied, large, flowing white bow. Her eyes sparkled like rubies. Wearing a simple white dress and thin red jacket, the pink Exceed was sitting on her knees, crying. She bawled, "I'm sorry, M-Master Burnor! It was an accident! I-I'll never do it again!"

"Your services to cover your parents' debt had put me in a real hellhole, you klutz! Your saving grace—cooking—won't cover the fact that you just _shredded my face_!" Burnor continued hollering. He suddenly had a calm look on what was left of his face. He took out a whip and commanded, "Strip."

"Y-yes, sir…" Aiko sniffled and stood, about to take off her dress.

"Hold it!" Summer called out and hopped the fence. She got between Burnor, who, in height, came up to her chest, and Aiko, who was about average height for a female Exceed her age (about 13, same as Aaron, Egon, Samuel, Lector, Ester, etc). "I can't let you get away with treating her that way!"

"Who are you…?" Aiko sniffled.

"Listen, human, I don't know who you are or where you get off barging onto my property, but this girl is my slave per my agreement with her deceased and very much indebted parents," Burnor explained rather gruffly to Summer.

"Deceased?" Summer gasped and glanced back at the pink cat. She felt even worse for her right then.

"I haven't seen them since I was eight… Mama promised she'd come back…" Aiko explained and wept into her paws.

Turning back to Burnor, Summer said, "No, _you_ listen! Stripping and flogging a little girl—on top of whatever the heck else you've done to her—isn't going to get you your money back! The payment of free labor is one thing, but this is just you trying to boost your own ego!"

"What are you saying? Look at what she did to my face!" Burnor went on hollering, gesturing to his bandaged face. Blood started to seep through.

"It's probably an improvement. How about this; you sign her over to me in exchange for all of the money in my wallet," Summer offered.

"How much do you have?" Burnor asked. Summer faltered, chuckled sheepishly, and yanked out her wallet. She started counting the Jewel, having no idea how much money she was actually carrying in addition to her 155,000J. "Let me know when you're ready."

"Um…" Aiko mumbled as she watched this human stranger stick her neck out for her. She blushed and smiled as her tears were now tears of joy.

"17, 18, 19, 20… 205,624 Jewel and a rubber band! Maybe I should carry a little less emergency money from now on," Summer concluded. "And not pawn whatever valuables I randomly find like a video game protagonist. Actually, that last part gets people places. So? Do we have a deal?"

"I'm going to need a little more," Burnor decided.

"Someone certainly is greedy," Summer said and took off her shoes. "How about now."

"Keep your foot fungus. Give me something valuable or get off my property."

"Alright. Give me a second," Summer implored and reached to the back of her neck. She looked like she was fumbling with something. In moments, she had taken off a jade necklace with a hawk carved into it. She felt bad about offering it because Ben had gone out of his way to get it for her birthday, but she thought he wouldn't mind if it meant giving someone a chance to live a life outside of slavery.

"Wow, you're desperate. Fine, take her," Burnor sighed and took the necklace, the money, and the rubber band like they were nothing. He went inside his luxurious mansion—a home Summer felt was too good for a man like that cat.

Summer turned and knelt down to Aiko, patting her head. She smiled radiantly and introduced herself, "My name's Summer."

"A-Aiko," Aiko mumbled, averting her gaze for a moment before locking eyes with her savior. "S-so I guess I'm your servant now."

What Summer responded with a statement that forever changed Aiko's life for the better. Ruby red eyes met terrestrial brown eyes. "No," Summer said as she wiped the remainder of Aiko's tears with her finger, "you're not a servant. Not to me. I'm giving you freedom. You're not a slave anymore. You're my friend."


	4. Lucy's New Friend

**Here's chapter 4. I know it's a little short, and I'm sorry for that. I'm just glad that it's to-the-point for various reasons. The next one will probably be longer. Really. Well, I don't have a lot to say, but this takes some attention away from the Rangers and has slight NaLu. I'm trying to be as fair as I can to both categories here. That's the tricky part of a crossover that I actually really enjoy. I find it very easy to think in crossovers. In fact, sometimes I ship in crossovers. That's beside the point, though.**

 **Happy: Thank you for your patience! Hi, Mama! (waves hello, hoping Marl is watching)**

 **Lucy: This is slightly ridiculous, but also a lot of fun!**

 **Hannah: "Slightly ridiculous" is my thing!**

 **Enjoy the chapter while I prevent a mutiny.**

 **Chapter 4: Lucy's New Friend**

Lucy, Natsu, and Happy were trying to solve a case of childish antics gone awry in Hargeon. Reports of stolen keys, water balloon traps, pitfalls, and other such stuff filled the port town. Now, the three wizards from Fairy Tail were not off to a great start. It was rather humorous, but by no means was it a great start.

"Where is Happy with that rope?!" Natsu groaned as he and Lucy sat at the bottom of a hole.

"If only we knew. He's probably off somewhere, snacking on tuna or red snapper," Lucy theorized. She was trembling in anxiety. Her keys had somehow gone missing. Natsu's arms were around her, trying to quell her. "I need to find those keys… They're my friends… My spirits…"

"You'll find them, Lucy. I promise you will. I swear you will," Natsu said reassuringly. Suddenly, they both heard a fierce jingling sound from above. A key ring with a face peered down at them as they gazed up at it.

"Klef, Klef, Klefki!" the key ring seemed to snicker at them. It was the Pokémon Klefki.

"Why you…! You little jerk! Come down here so I can kick your—actually, you don't have a butt. Still!" Natsu growled at the Klefki.

"Natsu, look!" Lucy gasped as she pointed to a series of silver and gold keys that Klefki was holding. "It has my Gate Keys!" With a great surge of adrenaline, the blonde used Natsu as a springboard and jumped out of the hole. "Hey, you! I need those!"

"Klef!" Klefki panicked and scurried off. Well, it floated off quickly, to be accurate.

"Get back here with those!" Lucy started to chase the key ring up and down the streets. Happy arrived back at the hole with a rope, confused as to why only one of his friends was there.

"Where's Lucy?" Happy asked.

"I don't know. She found her keys and leaped out like a Frosch," Natsu replied.

"You mean like a frog?"

"Yep. Something like that. Hey, happy birthday, man."

"It's not my birthday, but thanks."

Meanwhile, Lucy finally managed to catch up to Klefki when the Pokémon was face-to-face with a bunch of angry locals. One of them said, "That's the prankster!"

"Kill it before it lays eggs!" suggested another.

"What? No! No, don't kill it!" Lucy suddenly found herself urging. Then, she realized something. Klefki was lonely. In fact, it reminded her of herself in her youth. She had no one to play with that was her age. She hardly had anyone she could have a heart-to-heart talk with. It was sad. Lucy spoke up, "I'll take this Klefki and train it!"

"Klefki?" Klefki faced Lucy, teary eyed about being stood up for. The Fairy- and Steel-type hid behind her.

"Take it!" a local townsperson begged.

"Good luck," another scoffed.

"Let's all go get a drink!" a third suggested.

Lucy hugged the Klefki, asking, "Do you want to come along? Either way, I'll be needing my keys back."

"Klef, Klefki, Klefki!" the Klefki seemed to oblige. It was a wonderful sight to behold. She took out a Poké Ball that was given to her as a gift and tapped it against Klefki. In went the living key ring. The ball shook in her hand for several moments. Lucy stared at it until it finally stopped. She had caught the Klefki and had a new key ring to boot.

"Lucy!" Happy flew over and hugged Lucy. The blonde wrapped her arms around the blue cat as he continued to say, "I didn't know you were so athletic! Have you ever sacrificed a chicken?"

"I don't see the correlation," Lucy sighed. "And no, I have no sacrificed a chicken! Or made waffles with gravy, in case you think to ask."

"You're two steps ahead of me!" Happy gasped in shock.

"Lucy!" Natsu ran right into her and the three of them rolled into the townsfolk. Soon enough, a big ball of people (and a cat) was rolling down Second Street. Natsu cried out, "I'm going to be sick…!"

"No! Not here! AAAH!" Lucy and Happy screamed out as Natsu started turning sickly. It was rather unsightly. Natsu didn't get sick, though, because the ball of people (and a cat) crashed into one of those mobile noodle carts. And, if the day couldn't get any weirder than that, the guy pulling the cart looked just like Ichiya in terms of the face, but on a much taller and more average-looking body.

"What a weird day," Natsu commented, instantly better upon impact.

"Well, I have a Pokémon and we're getting reward money, so it's not a bad day, necessarily," Lucy said dizzily.

"Aye! Aaron and Egon are going to love the fish recipe I picked up!" Happy added onto the list of pros for the day.

"So you basically ditched us?!" Lucy barked at him.

"I came back! You ditched Natsu!" Happy meowed defensively.

"I don't care. I'm glad we caught the prankster. Oh, and Summer's on her way home with a new recruit for the guild," Natsu notified them. "Some pink Exceed named Aiko. Gray hates pink, so I doubt they'll get along."

"That might only apply to you," the blonde haired and blue furred wizards hypothesized.


	5. The Weather Family

**Here is chapter 5! I would like to accredit Archfiend and Hummingbird (that's one author) for giving me the idea that takes up at least half of this chapter. Unfortunately, thanks to a mini computer crash, some paragraphs in this chapter were lost and I don't exactly remember what I wrote given that I tend to write fanfics on the fly. Also, I would like to accredit TheGreatSakura for her Exceed OC, Hana, who is making her fanfiction debut today. Please give her a warm welcome!**

 **Aaron: (blushes) Always.**

 **Hana: Hi, everyone!**

 **Chapter 5: The Weather Family**

While Natsu, Lucy, and Happy were in Hargeon, Gray and Juvia were in a small village, trying to solve the mystery of strange weather patterns that had been occurring in the local area. It'd be rainy one moment and sunny the next. There'd even be spontaneous, short bursts of hail storms.

When the ice and water duo arrived to the village, they'd shown up during one of said hail storms. Gray smirked and said, "Alright! This is my kind of weather!" With that said, he threw off his jacket and shirt.

"Gray-sama, your clothes! Oh, you're making Juvia blush!" Juvia exclaimed, swooning. Hearts were floating around her and her face was pink with a blush.

"A-are you the wizards from Fairy Tail?" an old man in a winter jacket asked as he approached, shivering from the wind chill. As soon as he finished the question, he got his answer from the emblem on Gray's chest. "Thank goodness you're here! W-we're not sure how, but we believe a living being is behind this."

"Leave it to us," Gray assured.

"Have you noticed anything strange that may be linked to the weather?" Juvia asked the elderly man.

"Well, there have been alleged sightings of some sort of floating object. Some day it's white or orange. I've heard that it's been blue or a bluish gray. There's never really a definite answer as to what it looks like aside from its approximate size," the man muttered in defeat. "I know that isn't very useful to you…"

"Sure it is," Gray disagreed. "It's probably some form of magic. Juvia, let's split up and see if we can find this thing."

"No," Juvia was not compliant to this idea. "Juvia would do anything for you, Gray-sama, but not leave your side. Not even when we're dead and buried."

"That's creepy!" Gray exclaimed, imagining being buried with Juvia clinging to him like a body pillow. It gave him the skeeves. Indeed, the skeeves. Skeeves!

"Um… Thank you for coming to our village…" the elderly man thanked, trying to quell the awkwardness of the moment. Suddenly, the hail stopped and the sun came out. The solar radiance was abnormally blinding. "Ah! It's happening again!"

"Jubin!" Juvia exclaimed in astonishment.

"That's weird…" Gray muttered, covering his eyes and squinting as he looked up. Suddenly, he saw what he thought was a tiny white cloud with an orange head sitting on top. "Old man, is that what the villagers say they saw?"

The old man looked up and gasped. He exclaimed, "I believe it is! Now that I look at it… But it's so rare…!"

"What is it, sir?" Juvia asked the elderly man.

"That looks like the Pokémon Castform, a being whose specialty is altering the weather. I can't believe my eyes!" the man replied, still astonished.

"A Pokémon Ranger should have taken this job. We have four of them in our guild," Gray commented in a low mutter.

"Gray-sama, we said we would do this, so we are seeing this through!" Juvia insisted. Seeing the Castform reminded her of the weather dolls she used to make when she was younger. Plus, she found it adorable and wanted to adopt it as a pet that she and Gray would care for together like a family with a family dog. And Castform would be very attentive of their 33 babies and…

"Juvia, wake up," Gray called out, snapping Juvia out of her daydream. "We have to catch that thing."

"Understood!" Juvia said, saluting Gray. By this time, the Castform had noticed them and used Rain Dance to summon a mighty rain storm. Juvia said to it, "This was your mistake! Juvia is stronger in the rain!" She turned herself into water and shot up at the Pokémon. "Juvia wants you, Castform-sama!" Gray instantly began to wonder if this would end well for anyone.

Meanwhile, back at the guild, Summer and Hannah had come back from their jobs with a new Exceed partner in tow. Summer, of course, had brought home Aiko. Hannah had brought home a short furred, white furred, periwinkle eyed Exceed with a cherry blossom barrette on her ear and a matching kimono. Her name was Hana.

Upon first sight, Egon was head over paws for Aiko while Aaron was utterly infatuated with Hana. The brothers swooned. Carla giggled and commented, "Happy would certainly tease you two if he was here now."

"Those sparkling red eyes are like rubies…!" Egon sighed in amazement.

"Her ears are charming and her nose is perfect…!" Aaron swooned dreamily.

Aiko, acting shy and bashful around the guild members, spotted Egon and Aaron and asked Summer, "Um…who are those males over there?"

"The one with the bandanna is Egon. The one with the glasses is Aaron. They're brothers who were found by other members of our guild," Summer explained.

"Aaron looks so much healthier now than he did before," Hannah commented.

"He was sick before? Aww… The poor guy…" Hana mumbled and looked over in Aaron's direction. He flashed a shy smile to her, which caused her to grin warmly in response.

"Welcome back!" Ben greeted the girls with Ukulele Pichu on his shoulder. Egon approached Aiko, who started blushing. He smiled warmly and held out his paw. Hesitantly, she took it.

"Thanks," Summer thanked him. "Did you miss me?"

"Of course I missed, but you can handle yourself, so I didn't bother worrying," Ben laughed.

"I suppose I should take that as a compliment," Summer sighed.

"Say, where'd Thomas go?" Hannah asked, only to be hugged from behind. "Oh, hello."

"I'm glad you're back. Ooh, kitty!" Thomas exclaimed at the sight of Hana. He glanced at Aaron and took note of the look in those golden eyes. _He likes her! So cute! Kitty love! Aww, Aaron._

"Her name is Hana. I was walking back with Combusken when—" Hannah began.

"No, no! Don't tell them!" Hana cut off the human, seemingly embarrassed. "I don't want to talk about it…"

"I, um…" Aaron mumbled as he approached the white furred female. "Hi."

"Hi," Hana greeted and introduced herself politely. "I'm Hana."

"I'm Aaron," Aaron returned the introduction.

"That's a nice necklace," Hana complimented at the necklace around his neck. She found the way the gold charm rested on his fluffy chest tuft rather appealing.

"Thank you. It belonged to my mother," Aaron informed her, his eyes softening. "Even after mourning, I always miss her…"

Afraid she struck a nerve; Hana wrapped her arms around the gray Exceed and started to apologize profusely. "I am so sorry, Aaron-kun! I had no idea! I didn't mean to bring something like that up!"

Blushing, the gray cat replied, "N-no, it's okay. I actually enjoy talking about her."

Aiko and Egon seemed to be hitting it off. Aiko was very soft spoken, but something about Egon made her willing to open up. He was just so compelling. She told him everything about Burnor and her parents, some stuff even Summer hadn't heard before. Some of the things that Burnor did to Aiko were so heinous that he couldn't take it. Suddenly, in the middle of her verbal autobiography, Egon hugged her and made her a solemn promise. He vowed, "I won't let him hurt you ever again!"

Aiko let out a light gasp of astonishment as tears started to stream from her eyes. She cried softly, "Thank you…"

Suddenly, Gray kicked the door in. He was soaked to the bone. Natsu, who had walked in moments before with Lucy and Happy (and Lucy's Klefki), greeted him, "Hey, droopy eyes, do you need a diaper?"

"Shut up, Natsu! Let's just say a village got flooded and now Juvia and I have a new pet…" Gray muttered and promptly punched Natsu in the face, initiating a huge brawl.

"Count me in! Fire style: Erupting Punch!" Hannah called out has her right fist was engulfing in swirling flames. She entered the fight.

"Is it always like this over here?!" Aiko cried out, clinging to Egon.

"Every day," Egon replied nonchalantly.

Juvia was petting the Castform, saying, "Welcome to our family."

"Cast, Castform!" Castform replied gleefully. In truth, it was just happy it could fight alongside Juvia now as opposed to against her. She truly had used its Rain Dance against it…


	6. Old Soldiers Never Die

**Okay, here is where things start to get interesting. I don't want to spoil it so…enjoy!**

 **Happy: This chapter contains a spoiler if you have not completely finished the Tartarus Arc in either the manga or the anime. So spoiler alert. You have been warned, so put that shotgun away. Aye? Hey! That means you!**

 **Chapter 6: Old Soldiers Never Die**

Light. Darkness. A rift. Mewtwo. The Sky Fortress. The ruins. The loss of the Societea. Pokemon Rangers. The Hero of Oblivia. Wizardry. Battle to the death. Golden Armor.

Such words and images pulsated in Dr. Edward's head. He, known as Ed "The Thinker" in his glory days as a master thief and arguably supreme mastermind, went through his memories. His younger years. His golden years. His olden years. The last thing he remembered was fighting Ben to the death in the ruins of the Sky Fortress. He had been thwarted not once, but twice by the Hero of Oblivia. Not even the betrayal of his friends and having his soul submerged in darkness was enough.

"Where am I? How is this possible? Ben…he ran me through! I didn't even have time to reposition my heart!" Edward demanded answers of himself, and then realized what he had just said. "All that power… To alter the flow of my vital organs… Put people in a cocktail of mental and physical torture. Just when I thought I couldn't get anymore rotten… What have I done?!"

"Ed, be a dear and stop shouting," a familiar female voice called out to him. Out of the shadows stepped a woman wearing a white coat, a red blouse, black pants, red shoes, and a yellow scarf. Her hair and eyes were lavender.

"Kasa!" Edward cried out and scrambled over to her. "You've come to haunt me, haven't you?! Haven't you?!"

"Geez, Ed, have a little composure. This is not like the Ed 'The Thinker' that I know," Kasa scolded. "I'm just as confused as you will be when I tell you that all four of us are alive and well. And three… two… one…"

"Are you serious?! How is that possible?! I can't fathom any sound logic in any magical, alchemical, or fat-free study!" Edward rambled on. His cover profession as a doctor was a profession nonetheless, and he was excellent at it. This also meant he had an eye for biological detail. He suddenly got in Kasa's face and gazed deeply into her eyes.

"Ed, we're too old for this romantic stuff!" Kasa pushed him away in protest.

"Your sclera… They're black…" Edward commented. Sclera were the whites of the eyes (as far as humans were concerned anyway). And black hers were.

"So are yours, now that you mention it…" Kasa said observantly. "Now that I think about it…"

 _Flashback to about 10 minutes ago…_

" _Arley, Hocus! You're both okay!" Kasa exclaimed gleefully. She would have cried tears of joy, but she didn't want her mascara to run._

" _Ah-ha! My greatest trick: returning from the dead!" Hocus the magician chuckled proudly._

 _Arley let out a sigh and pointed out, "If this was your doing, we would have been reanimated a long time ago."_

" _True, true. You're not all brawn, Arley, and you never cease to amaze me!" Hocus laughed at the observation._

 _End of flashback…_

"I think Arley and Hocus had the same thing!" Kasa exclaimed.

"What did we have?" a deep voice boomed. The voice belonged to Arley, who was playing checkers in the corner of the room with Hocus and trying to win for the first time in five games.

"How did we die anyway?" Hocus pondered the elephant in the room.

 _They don't remember! Thank goodness!_ Edward thought and let out a light sigh of relief. He decided it was safe to speak up. "At any rate, we were reanimated by another. But I can't think of how. There is magic made to kill people, but to resurrect the dead?"

"It is possible, though a tad tedious," a new voice filled the room. Aura of pure darkness pulsated. The Black Mage himself, Zeref, appeared. "I've done it before, but I thought the technique needed a bit of refining. And then I thought of you four."

"Us four?" Arley echoed in hopes of receiving confirmation.

The Black Mage nodded.

"Why us specifically?" Hocus asked.

"You four are as strong as you are wise, though some lessons were left unlearned for you. I'm not sure if I have a place for you in my home, but you are useful," Zeref replied. "Arley, you have the ability to pour your power into your appendages, incorporating magic into a fighting still. The very ground shakes when you do this. Kasa, you are a master of disguise and adept at transformation. You even took your true face to the grave. Hocus, you are well versed and have a high affinity to several kinds of magic. You remind me of two people I know; one of my subordinates, and a man I once taught named Precht Gaebolg. The same goes for you, Ed 'The Thinker'…"

When Zeref took a pause, Edward swallowed. He'd never felt such immense pressure radiate from one being in his entire life; not even the power of the immortality-granting, mind-controlling, mega-weapon-wielding Golden Armor lived up to Zeref's standard.

Zeref continued, "But your affinity to the dark arts is especially strong."

"What is it you plan to do with us?" Edward demanded, finally, for a brief moment, having the nerve to speak.

"…Nothing," Zeref answered.

"Nothing?!" Kasa echoed in shock. "How in heaven's name are we useful to you then?!"

"You are useful enough by going about your business. Welcome to the Kingdom of Fiore," Zeref responded all too coolly. The wall farthest from them crumbled. There was a blizzard just outside. "Across the way is Mount Hakobe. Don't freeze to death. Don't get eaten by Vulcans. Don't fear the reaper. Enjoy your stay."

"Wait!" Edward turned away from the gaping hole in the stone wall to face Zeref, but he was gone.

"The Societea is revived. So…what now?" Arley asked hesitantly, having trouble letting everything that just happened sink in.

"…We move forward," Edward decided. "I think this is a poor place for one of our famous tea parties."


	7. Salamanders Alike

**Here's a quickie composed of a few mini-ideas that blend together into…well, this. The end of the chapter is a bit random, but it is something that (in my personal opinion) ought to happen in the main series and probably won't.**

 **Enjoy!**

 **Chapter 7: Salamanders Alike**

Ben, Pichu, and Egon decided to relieve Natsu of a bout of jealousy. It was time for him to get his first Pokemon! And so, they took Natsu and Happy all over the place. Natsu kept saying he wanted a dragon, so Ben decided, "Okay, then. I think we should start by looking in a cave. Some Dragon-types live in caves."

"Whoo-hoo! Alright, I'm getting a dragon!" Natsu broke out into a happy dance, though it was not as well-done a dance as one of Happy's.

"He is way too excited about this," Egon commented flatly.

"Aye," Happy agreed. "Leave it to Natsu to want one of the rarer Pokemon types. Natsu, what's wrong with Caterpie?"

"Caterpie can't get on my level!" Natsu barked.

"He knows what he likes!" Ben exclaimed with a huge grin. Pichu strummed its ukulele nonchalantly. "This will be fun!"

"Well, we had better make the most of it," Egon sighed and shrugged, sharing Ben's grin.

"Still, why not a fish Pokemon?" Happy continued his questioning.

"I'm not going to let you eat my new buddy!" Natsu protested the very idea in light of Happy's unmistakable appetite. "Besides, dragons are cool. A Dragon-type is my ideal! No one has more charisma than a dragon."

"What the squish does charisma have to do with anything?!" Egon and Happy demanded, but they were ignored.

"March! Pick up those paws and march!" Ben commanded and marched off, followed by a marching Natsu and a minstrel Pichu.

"I guess we'd better follow them," Happy said and flew after them. Egon sprouted his wings and followed.

"I hope Aaron is okay," Egon mumbled.

"Ah, I'm sure he's fine! Thomas has a flattering obsession with cats and he treats them well, so your brother is in good hands," Happy assured. "Haven't you two ever been apart before?"

"Only for a few hours at a time," Egon replied, "when I would go out to fish or get herbs. But after a while, the orphanage heard of two kids with no parents toughing it out. They came and took us. We took as many things from our house as our bags and arms could carry."

"Even though Aaron was ill," Happy added somberly.

"They promised us that Aaron would get the undivided attention of the best doctors they were associated with. They never followed through. Whenever someone would consider adopting me and not Aaron because they wanted to avoid responsibility over a sick child-or pet, however they saw us-I would behave embarrassingly poorly. We had lost so much. I wasn't about to let us lose each other," Egon went on, his sea green eyes watering.

"I'm sorry to hear about your mama and papa. Losing them alone is a hard row to hoe. Then, you two had gone through so much other stuff," Happy offered Egon his condolences. "You two are so strong."

"Nah, not really. We were just a couple of kids trying to survive," Egon responded with a chuckle. "Me, strong. Aaron had said something like that to me once."

"Your brother's smart enough to know what's what," Happy commented. The two Exceeds hadn't even noticed that they reached the foot of a jagged-looking mountain. As their human partners and Pichu started climbing, they subconsciously flew after them, still conversing. "Say, now that I think about it, we're technically supposed to be about the same age."

"Yeah, so?" Egon asked, pondering the significance of that.

"Well, wouldn't that mean that you were part of the 100-Egg Evacuation?" Happy asked. "How come you lived with your mama and papa?"

"I'm not all that sure. I vaguely remember a floating city… So, so, _so_ vaguely… But most of my memories are of Aaron and I growing up in our little house in Earthland. Aaron hatched here," Egon divulged what little he could remember.

"So I guess your whole family relocated here after you were born, but before Aaron was," Happy concluded. Before Egon could reply, they found themselves needing to fly every which way to avoid being hit with fire.

"What's going on?!" Egon cried out. He soon saw the problem; they had come across an angry Charmander.

"I just wanted to pet the dragon!" Natsu cried out as he dodged several consecutive Flamethrower attacks.

"Natsu, that's not a dragon!" Ben exclaimed in protest. But, as per this being Ben, he added, "Though, your curiosity is admirable!"

"Thanks!" Natsu thanked the Pokemon Ranger.

"Natsu, why are you dodging?!" Happy demanded as he dodged the angry Charmander's flames. "You _eat_ fire!"

Natsu stopped and admitted, "That dragon is so cute it made me forget."

"Char!" Charmander spat flames at Natsu, who ate them this time.

"Mmm! Delicious! Thanks for the meal," Natsu thanked the Lizard Pokemon, smiling genuinely. The Charmander, quite frankly, was freaked out. He tried asking it, "Can you eat fire?"

Charmander simply let out a "Char, Char!" and came at Natsu with Metal Claw, but Natsu just punched it in the face.

"Natsu!" Ben scolded.

"I'm trying to have a civilized conversation with you," Natsu told the Charmander. "No claws."

"Char…" the Charmander whimpered.

"Pichu, see what you can do," Ben requested, and Pichu darted over to Charmander and began to flying a soothing tune on its ukulele. Gradually, the Fire-type Pokemon seemed to calm down and started humming along with the tune.

"You're cute. I like you," Natsu said to the Charmander, smiling from ear to ear.

"Aye!" Happy said, perched on Natsu's shoulder.

"Would you like to join Fairy Tail? We've got great food, beautiful women, and great food!" Natsu offered, holding out his hand.

"You said great food twice," Egon pointed out, smiling at the situation as it was a rather heartwarming moment.

"Char!" Charmander seemed to comply and took Natsu's hand.

Promptly, the team started traveling back to Fairy Tail. As they were walking through a town (they had gone ridiculously far out), Ben heard something of interest. Someone said, "Have you heard about a traveling doctor recently? I heard that the man performs medical miracles!"

"I'd sure like to meet him. He could heal my back," a man replied with wishful thinking.

 _Funny. People used to say stuff like that about Dr. Edward. Then, they felt betrayed when the beloved traveling doctor came out as Ed "The Thinker" and basically took all of Oblivia hostage…_ Ben's thoughts wandered off to his past encounters with the elderly doctor. All of the initial good times and pleasant conversations made his heart ache. The people of Oblivia weren't the only ones who had felt betrayed. Then, all of the foul times; the battles; the high stakes; the friction that grew dangerously between the teen and old man made him tremble. He shook his head to snap himself out of it.

"Pichu…" Pichu said worriedly, perched on Ben's left shoulder.

"Ben? Are you okay?" Egon asked as he sat on his partner's right shoulder.

"Huh? Yeah, I'm fine!" Ben replied with a big smile. "Just some extraneous thoughts. C'mon, we'd better get back to the guild before dark."

Natsu stopped and said, "I just heard that Toby Horhorta wrote a best-seller."

"Isn't he one of Lamia Scale's wizards?" Ben asked.

Meanwhile, Erza was sitting at home, reading Toby's book, _The Tale of the Lost Sock_. She was crying. Her voice broke as she said, "This book is so moving!"


	8. The Blood Feud of Generations

**In looking into some family trees in the Fairy Tail universe, I got a crazy idea. Well,** _ **another**_ **crazy idea. I shouldn't spoil it. Enjoy!**

 **Chapter 8: The Blood Feud of Generations**

Laxus was enjoying his sweet time, listening to his Sound Pod. Nothing was bothering him. Nothing in the world was ruining his sanctum of rock 'n' roll peace. That he knew off.

"Laxus!" Makarov was yelling, trying to get his grandson's attention. The old man's veins were protruding from his head and his blood pressure was through the roof. "Laxus, turn that music off and listen to me! You have a letter!"

"I'll go get Porlyusica. At least one of those two will need her in a few minutes," Hannah declared as she took Hana outside, making their destination the East Forest.

"Will you snap out of it?!" Makarov yelled as he punched Laxus with a gigantic arm, sending the blonde man flying. "Laxus, you've been challenged!"

"Gramps…" Laxus gave a groan before he roared, "THAT HURT! ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?!"

"NO! I JUST NEED YOU TO FOCUS, BOY!" Makarov yelled back. "It's from Sanctus Porla. Jose's son."

"WHAAAAAAT?!" everyone in the guild was aghast.

"When did Master Jose have time to make a son? He was always trying to build up Phantom Lord!" Happy demanded in a panic. The blue cat wanted answers.

"I wanna beat this guy up!" Natsu roared.

"Charmander, Char!" Charmander growled in agreement.

"It's Laxus who's being challenged, not you," Gray reminded the Fire Dragon Slayer.

"Master Jose's…son…?" Juvia gasped, almost dropping Castform.

"That dude is bad news…" Gajeel gave a low growl. "He was off on a job when Phantom and Fairy Tail had that guild war years back. If it weren't for the difference in magic-type, he and Laxus would probably be mistaken for each other by reputation."

"So what's he want with me?" Laxus inquired.

"It says in the letter that he wants to 'punch your face' and 'settle the score between the phantoms and fairies'," Makarov cited the letter.

"…Is he slow?" Thomas finally asked.

"He's aware that Phantom Lord was disbanded, right?" Erza requested confirmation. "This letter suggests otherwise."

"He'd have to know. That's probably why he sent this challenge letter in the first place," Gajeel responded. "There's still stuff about this that doesn't make a lick of sense…"

"There's something scribbled here at the bottom…" Makarov mumbled. He looked at Thomas and asked, "Can you read handwriting as sloppy as your own?"

"Yes, sir," Thomas accepted the letter without a second thought. He knew his own handwriting was sloppy, so he felt he had no right to protest. "'In addition to the pride of our respective guilds, we will be fighting for the hand of Mirajane Strauss in holy matrimony. Split you later. Signed, Sanctus Porla'."

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAT?!" Again, the entirety of the guild members present was aghast.

"Huh?" Mirajane tilted her head in confusion.

"We should all accept this challenge!" Wakaba suggested.

"You're already married!" Macao reminded his friend.

"We can't marry Mira off to a guy she's never met!" Ben said with an odd fire of determination in his eye.

"Ben?" Summer called out.

"Burning!" Ben bellowed as his determination burned hotter.

"That's kind of creepy. Where at?" Laxus inquired.

"Uh… He marked some coordinates on here. I take back what I said about him being slow," Thomas answered.

"I'll find it!" Egon grabbed the letter and opened up a map of Fiore. Using the coordinates from the letter, he found the location of the designated battlefield. "It's a plateau! Right here." The white cat circled the area with a red marker and gave the map to Laxus. "Good luck!"

"Thanks," Laxus thanked Egon as he took the map from him. "Stall Raijinshuu for me. Freed in particular is too young to be having heart attacks." He disappeared in a bolt of lightning, descending upon the plateau in the very next instant. There, he encountered a thin-lipped man about his age with dark violet hair. His eyes were covered by goggles of some sort. "Are you supposed to be Sanctus?"

"I am," the man, evidently Sanctus, replied. Laxus suddenly felt something with a light grip coil around him. To his surprise, it was a pack of Shades. "You like? I can certainly show you more. Shadow Slicer!" Sanctus harnessed the power of shadows, turned it into a curved blade, and through it at Laxus. By tilting his head, the Lightning Dragon Slayer narrowly dodged the assault.

"That looks like a cheap knock-off of Juvia's Water Slicer," Laxus scoffed and small jolts of lightning ripped the Shades into oblivion.

"Impressive. I've never seen anyone endure the Shades and dodge my Shadow Slicer when constricted like that," Sanctus mused.

"Maybe your aim sucks and your luck has run out," Laxus suggested, not amused. Sanctus' eyes narrowed. The blonde man then asked, "So, tell me, pal, why am I here? How angry I get will depend on your answer."

"Did you not read the letter I sent?" Sanctus asked. "I thought my explanation was clear. I am fighting for the honor and former glory of Phantom Lord as well as the hand of fair Mirajane."

"Mira's not for sale," Laxus informed the shadow wizard. "And Phantom was the one who picked a fight with Fairy Tail and lost. You sound like a spoiled brat by complaining under those circumstances.

"Don't you think this fight was destined to happen?!" Sanctus bellowed. "Our families in particular, as well as the guilds phantoms and fairies, have been chomping at the bit for generation after generation after generation!"

"What do you mean?" Laxus asked for clarification.

"Let me show you," Sanctus offered. The scenery around them started changing.

"Teleportation?" Laxus guessed.

"Telepathy and illusion magic in combination," Sanctus corrected. They saw a quartet of people standing in front of the old Fairy Tail building. It had just been built. The little girl was, unmistakably, the First Master. There was a slim, blonde man with a wild look in his eyes. "That is one of your guild's cofounders and your great-grandfather, Yuri Dreyar."

"…" Laxus remained silent.

"Your ancestor had made an enemy out of mine, the founder of Phantom Lord!" Sanctus raised his voice, hoping Laxus would pick up on the point and the hostility he bared.

"So…you basically have the hots for Mira and you want to take revenge for some family feud? Is that it?" Laxus asked for further clarification.

"That's right. I will kill you and end the Dreyar bloodline so our families stop this clash," Sanctus vowed with a hand enveloped in shadows and eyes filled with bloodlust. However, before he knew what hit him, he was hit in the face by a fist enveloped in lightning.

"I don't care about that crap!" Laxus bellowed as Sanctus hit a boulder, shattering it on impact. "This was a waste of time. Go back to your memories and let Fairy Tail pave the future, guy."


	9. Dragon's Grace

**Here's the next chapter! So I was replaying Pokémon LeafGreen for a while when I decided to go try to catch some rare Pokémon in the Safari Zone. I fished with my Super Rod in that first lake you see and I reel in a Dratini. It gets away. I try again. It gets away. I try again, this time reeling in a Dragonair, which apparently is an even rarer occurrence (and I didn't even know they were found in the wild anywhere until just a few days ago), and whaddya know, it gets away, too. So that's what inspired most of this chapter.**

 **See? Low catch rates can be good sometimes!**

 **Happy: That rant was long-winded.**

 **Erza: Enjoy this wondrous chapter full of heart and soul.**

 **Aww, Erza! You flatter me!**

 **Erza:…and banter.**

 **That's fair.**

 **Chapter 9: Dragon's Grace**

While Laxus was away, Wendy was on the lake's edge in Magnolia, learning how to fish from Happy. Carla had boasted, "Well, you will be learning from the best! I suppose…"

"I'm so excited, Carla!" Wendy said as she cast her line.

"The key is patience and to _really_ want that fish!" Happy explained as he cast his line. "Fishing is both a burning passion that blazes upward and a still water that runs deep. Calm your mind and sharpen your senses. Want it like Gray wants that body pillow of Juvia."

"But…I don't…" Gray said rigidly.

"Happy, you're more into this than I realized," Carla stated her observation.

"He wrote a book," Wendy chimed in and handed Carla a copy of _Happy-Sensei's Fishosophies vol. 1_. Carla's face fell flat as she stared at the book. Wendy went on to explain, "It was at the top of the best seller list for all of five days."

"But it's a weekly system!" Carla gasped in surprise. "What booted it down?"

"…Toby's sock book," Wendy admitted, which caused Carla to scream in horror. A story about an odd man losing his sock sold more than her beloved's fish-oriented philosophies? That was Taurus manure! Pure, fresh, unadulterated manure!

"Why does Carla look like someone broke her favorite teacup?" Summer asked as she came to the back of the guild with Aiko.

"Miss Carla?" Aiko called out Carla's name as she flew over.

"H-how is that possible?!" Carla demanded. "I'm on the verge of losing a screw here!"

"I'm not going to sweat the small stuff," Happy declared as he got a bite. "Burning!" With a cry of burning passion, he reeled in a huge fish.

"Wow! Happy, you're so skilled!" Wendy marveled. (Heh. Get it?) She then noticed that she, too, had a bite. "My turn! Ooh… BURNING!" With a mighty tug, she reeled in an organism that was long, slender, and blue. It was almost eel like and had big, dark, innocent eyes. "It's so cute!"

"It's not a fish…" Happy said, about to throw it back.

"No, don't throw that back!" Summer cried out as she sprang forward and stopped him. "That's a super rare Pokémon called Dratini!"

"I remember how frustrating trying to catch one in the Safari Zone of Fuchsia City was…" Thomas looked upon the memories fondly. "It was so rewarding." He then grimaced. "It was also a dark and cruel time of awful teasers and spontaneous fleeing."

"Whoa! His demeanor shifted so quickly!" Aaron said in amazement and awe.

"Vileplume, Vileplume…" Vileplume agreed with his Trainer, also grimacing.

Wendy took the Dratini from Happy and smiled at it. She greeted, "Hi."

"Dratini…" Dratini gazed thoughtfully into Wendy's kind brown eyes…and promptly tried to escape, wriggling free of her hold.

"It doesn't like me…" Wendy sniffled.

"Don't give up so easily!" Carla chided.

"Use this," Thomas instructed as he dropped a Poké Ball into the young girl's hands. "I promise it is empty now. It'll stay that way unless you catch that Dratini! You can do it, Wendy!"

"Go, Wendy, go! Go, Wendy, go!" Aaron cheered on Vileplume's giant flower.

"She doesn't have a Pokémon of her own to battle with," Summer tried to reason with Thomas, which only worked periodically. In this case, she had missed the mark.

"She's a Pokémon in her soul!" Thomas said with a single tear. He smirked. "Besides, this is how it worked in the early days of the Safari Zone."

"Okay, you have a point," Summer conceded to the absurd, yet functional logic.

The Dratini started the battle with Thunder Wave. Wendy avoided the attack. Wendy used Sky Dragon Wing Attack. It's super effective.

"This is getting intense!" Aaron exclaimed as Dratini returned the volley with a Twister attack.

"D-don't get hurt out there!" Aiko called out.

"Hey, what's going on?" Hana asked as she descended. Aaron's gray furred face turned garnet pink as the cherry blossom themed Exceed descended upon him with her grace.

"Hi, Hana-chan!" Aiko greeted. "We're watching Wendy's first Pokémon battle."

"Is she winning?" Hana asked as she landed between Aaron and Aiko. Her periwinkle eyes darted to her left to catch Aaron's golden eyes. He blushed and glanced away. In response, she took his paw.

"Squee!" Hannah greeted as she appeared in a fireball.

"Hey!" Summer fondly returned the unique greeting.

"My cherry blossom!" Thomas said in a baby voice as he hugged Hannah. Summer's face didn't have any time to fall flat as she felt someone grip her hand.

"Go Wendy!" Ben cheered as he held the girl Ranger's hand. He was able to see her smile in his peripheral vision.

"Yeah! You got this, Wendy!" Egon cheered. Aiko, who was standing next to him and just noticed him, blushed at the sight of him.

"Pichu, Pichu!" Pichu cheered, strumming its signature ukulele.

"I'm a Cavalier Spaniel covered in blood and I will kill anything taller than 12 meters!" Wendy laughed maniacally.

"That's a bit over the top," Gray said, starting to wonder if little Wendy, like many of the girls at Fairy Tail, will grow up to be respected and feared.

"Just a smidgeon," Thomas agreed.

"Wendy…" Carla said worriedly, wringing her paws in angst.

"She's fine," Happy nonchalantly tried to reassure her. Dratini was thrown at him, hitting him in the face.

"Victory!" Wendy roared.

"CATCH IT!" her spectators reminded her of the whole point of the battle.

"Did you wrestle Pokémon like this in the Safari Zone?" Aaron asked his partner fearfully.

"No! It wasn't legal! But I did swordfight with a Scyther once," Thomas replied.

"Yeah, I somehow suspect that's illegal, too," Hannah spoke up.

" _It_ challenged _me_!" Thomas said defensively. "Vileplume will vouch for me!"

"Um…Go, Poké Ball!" Wendy threw the Poké Ball. It hit Dratini and opened, absorbing the slender Dragon-type. The Poké Ball fell to the ground and wobbled and warbled for several moments.

"Hmm…" Wendy watched the round capsule carefully.

"This…is actually pretty thrilling," Gray spoke up as he watched the Poké Ball shake.

"A different kind of thrilling from using a Capture Styler. We really have the best of both worlds," Thomas agreed and added on. The other three rangers present nodded in agreement.

"Amazing!" Aiko gasped in awe, her eyes sparkling like rubies. Egon glanced into her eyes and was captivated by their luster.

"C'mon…" Aaron said softly, the suspense getting to him.

The Poké Ball shook and shook until finally, it stopped shaking and let loose a reverberating ding. Wendy's focus stare turned into a sparkle of joy. She cried out, "YES! Whoo! Yeah! Ahahahaha! I caught Dratini!"

"So…what now?" Gray asked.

"Uh…" Wendy was at a loss for words.

Out of nowhere, Erza ran over and grabbed Wendy's wrist. She said, "Comrade, we will feast on cake in celebration! We'll pick out any cake you want—that has my approval."

"Something tells me you'd approve of any cake, so okay," Wendy complied, essentially consenting with her own kidnapping. Erza was off like a bullet with Wendy in tow. Speaking over the sound of Erza's quick feet, the blue haired girl then asked, "By the way, Erza, do you have any Pokémon?"

"As a matter of fact, I have three!" Erza spoke up. "I'll have to introduce you sometime!" She happened to look up and saw thunderclouds. "Oh. Laxus is back. Or Ben is summoning Raikou again."

In a bolt of lightning, Laxus shot down in front of the guild. There were bandages on various places of his body. Mirajane came out to see him, concluding, "I guess I'm not betrothed."

"Nope. You disappointed?" Laxus replied with a smirk. In truth, somewhere in her heart, she was slightly disappointed. Her heart was aflutter when she had hurt that Laxus would fight for her, but it wasn't for the reasons she thought it was. Of course, that's something she should have expected with Laxus.

Mirajane, taking note of the bandages, asked, "What happened to you?"

"Just when I thought I had knocked that punk out, he tried to pull a sneak attack. Sneaky little… Anyway, I beat him up again, and after I was sure he was down…he got up again. So I punted him all the way to Bosco."

"Gosh!" Mirajane exclaimed.

"Then this doctor showed up. He said his name was Edward or something. Nice guy, but he had weird eyes. And a _great_ mustache! I should try growing one," Laxus pondered the idea.

"Please, don't," Mirajane requested.


	10. The Mega Fairy Queen

**Chapter 10: The Mega Fairy Queen**

After Laxus had his encounter with Sanctus, he had encountered a mysterious doctor. He had no idea who this doctor was or what he was capable of. Or what the doctor was actually intending to do when he just so happened to cross his path.

What Edward was actually on his way to do was hire some man power. The first thing he wanted to do was start where he left off. He and Hocus had put their ingenuity and outside-the-box thinking to hypothesize that perhaps the Societea could operate the Sky Fortress utilizing their newfound vitality and power in place of the Golden Armor. Whether or not they would even try was the question. After all, it had been inoperable when they last saw it.

At any rate, Edward knew that the Societea was going to need some help getting back on its feet if it was to be as formidable as it was in its glory days. As he walked into a bar, he chuckled to himself. He felt the same rush he used to feel in every crime he committed as a young man.

Days later, Erza decided that Team Natsu's next job would be to stop a monster from destroying a village. Seemed typical, right? Well, the job description said that while this beast was normally docile and resided in the plains nearby, the recent actions of it were abnormally violent and it was unresponsive to stimuli.

"This monster will be interesting to observe this monster," Erza said with great gumption. As if on cue, a giant badger-like creature went rolling by.

"Was that a fluffy house?!" Natsu gasped. "That thing was huge!"

"Well, this made our jobs spontaneously easy," Gray said, holding Castform. Juvia made him take it so they could have bonding time.

"What's the plan? Pitfall trap? Freeze it?" Lucy asked Erza, hoping she had a plan that wouldn't decimate the entire village.

Erza took out a PokéDex and scanned the giant badger as it rampaged on. She concluded, "I doubt it's a new species since these villagers know it so well, so I am going to conclude that this isn't a Pokémon."

"Where did you get that…?" Lucy couldn't help but ask.

"Don't worry about it."

"Yes, ma'am…"

"So…what distinguishes a Pokémon from other non-humans?" Happy, a curious non-human, asked.

"This," Erza threw a Poké Ball at Happy's head. Nothing happened.

"So…what is our plan?" Wendy brought Lucy's question back into light.

"We fight it with our fighting spirit!" Erza replied confidently. She had blazing determination in her eyes. Nothing would stop her.

"I was afraid you'd say that. Well, there goes my rent," Lucy sighed, her Klefki floating beside her, sighing in unison.

"Um…let's have fun with this," Wendy suggested hesitantly, not sure how to go about this supportively.

"Sheesh," Carla sighed as Gray and Natsu charged, shooting fire and ice everywhere.

"Erza-san," Wendy spoke, her tone of voice changing, "There's another person hiding himself. And I smell a ghost, too."

"I see… Lucy, I need you to do me a favor. I'm sure you'll object to it unless I threaten you, but this is important. I need you to use Virgo to sneak up on it and get in its face," Erza requested, though it sounded like an order.

"R-right," Lucy nervously complied as Klefki handed her Virgo's key. She waved the golden key. "Open, Gate of the Maiden! Virgo!" In a bright flash, the masochistic maid erupted from the ground.

"What can I do for you, Princess?" Virgo politely asked.

"Virgo, could you please get me in front of that badger?" Lucy requested.

"I thought you would rather avoid something like that, but as you wish," Virgo complied and started drilling with her magic. Lucy followed her down the hole.

"Wendy, focus on finding that smell," Erza ordered. "I think there's more to this than meets the eye."

Wendy had a feeling that Erza was right. The redhead was second to a select few at short-term battle analysis. Closing her eyes, she put all of her focus into her sense of smell. Suddenly, her kind, brown eyes shot open in revelation. She pointed to a small cathedral with a slate roof. "There!"

"Good girl!" Erza complimented Wendy and awarded her with a dog treat, which she was eager to accept.

"Wendy! You have no idea where that's been!" Carla scolded her.

"But it's tasty…" Wendy said defensively.

Meanwhile, Lucy was propelled up from the ground by Virgo. In mid air, she caught a glimpse of the giant badger's eyes. They were absent, as if it was in a trance. The badger swatted at Lucy, but Natsu, propelled by fire, grabbed her in the nick of time.

Happy was swatting the badger with a stick, shouting, "Stay away from Carla, you big bully!"

"That's sweet, Happy," Carla said with a smile and tears in her eyes. "But that creature hasn't even glanced at me."

"I think it's hypnotized. Its eyes are blank…" Lucy informed Natsu.

"That doesn't change my plan. Beat it up!" Natsu bellowed, relishing the sport of the fight. He looked down proudly at his Charmander, who was breathing fire at the badger.

"Spectral Sword: Crimson Sakura!" Erza summoned the legendary katana, Crimson Sakura and requipped out of her armor and into her flame pattern pants and her chest bandages. She gave a mighty lunge towards the cathedral and leapt to the top of the slate roof. In mid air, she swung her sword. She'd managed to cut throat some type of illusion that cloaked a woman with dark hair and a purple cloak and the Pokémon Mismagius, presumably the woman's. "Ah-ha!"

"How'd you…?!" the woman was flabbergasted.

"You shouldn't have stuck around. You could have gotten away clean. Unless…you need to be close to continue manipulating it. Using your Mismagius' Hypnosis," Erza deduced their method of controlling the giant badger.

"So…you're Titania. Well, then… Mismagius, Power Gem!" the woman commanded. The Ghost-type blasted Erza, but the redhead deflected the attack with her blade.

"So that's how you want to fight. Fine by me!" Erza huffed, holding a Poké Ball. "Mawile, to arms!" She threw it. When the Steel- and Fairy-type appeared from the light of the opening capsule, it gave off the same powerful shockwave and menacingly cool vibe people got from Erza. A black Fairy Tail guild mark was on its left arm. Around Mawile's head was a headband much like the one from Erza's Heaven's Wheel Armor. In the middle of the headband was the Mega Stone Mawilite.

"Mawile!" Mawile gave a battle cry.

The Ghost-type Trainer saw a breeze play with Erza's red hair and she saw it. She saw a Key Stone dangling from her left earring. The woman begged, "S-stay back."

"You've taken an innocent creature against its will and terrorized a village. And you took pleasure in it. What was your goal? Conquest? Blackmail? No matter. You'll receive no sympathy from us," Erza declared. "Something like this isn't what the bond between people, Pokémon, and other creatures is about!"

"Mawile!" Mawile agreed.

"I will prove myself!" the mysterious woman screamed and sent her shadows—yes, shadows—at Erza, but the queen of the fairies cut them apart with Crimson Sakura.

"Evolution beyond evolution…" Erza muttered. Then, with a hearty voice, cried out, "Mega Stone, Key Stone, respond to our hearts! Now, Mega Evolve!" Her Key Stone and Mawile's Mawilite glowed and Mawile was enveloped in a mysterious light.

"You can use Mega Evolution?!" the Mismagius Trainer gasped.

"Wow! That's amazing!" Wendy cried out in awe.

"Somehow, I should have expected this," Carla said. Then, her eyes widened. She trembled a bit. She was having a vision, and it was a big blur of action, terror, and passion. She was able to make out bits and pieces. She saw Natsu and Ben fighting a man she had never seen. She wasn't sure how, but she thought this woman was somehow connected to the vision.

"Iron Head!" Erza called out a move as she herself charged at the mysterious woman.

"Mawile! Ma…wile!" Mega Mawile charged forward with a steel-hard head and a diamond spirit, slamming into the Mismagius.

"Mismagius!" Mismagius cried in agony.

"Magical Leaf!" its Trainer commanded as she narrowly dodged Erza's blade and fought her with a sword made of shadows, clashing with the enchanted metal.

Mismagius hit Mega Mawile with a barrage of razor sharp magical leaves, but the Mega Evolved Pokémon stood its ground in enduring the attack.

"What is it you're trying to prove?!" Erza demanded as she crossed blades with the woman.

"I was offered a place in an up-and-coming organization! A very professional-looking man wanted to see my talents in action! I am proving myself to him! I am useful! I am powerful! Together with Mismagius, I am able to do anything!" the woman yelled in Erza's face.

Erza, taking advantage of the woman's disparity and anger, made her move and landed the finishing blow. She said, "If you can cross paths with Fairy Tail, declare war on us, and don't regret it, I'll believe you. We may be known as a rambunctious guild, but we have a strong sense of justice. Speaking of being rambunctious, Mawile, use Play Rough!"

Play Rough, a move rather fitting of a Fairy Tail member, was a Fairy-type physical attack. Mega Mawile used it as a means to an end of the battle, finishing off Mismagius.

With Mismagius knocked out, the badger's hypnosis was lifted. It immediately stopped rampaging. Now docile, it started making its way back to its native plains, leaving half the town in ruins.

"Hey! Where are you going, you jerk! We're not taking the blame for you if that's what you're thinking!" Natsu chided, hoping that, for some reason, the giant badger would come back and assume responsibility.

"That sucked," Gray muttered.

"Sleazy codger, trying to make a move on my woman…" Happy grumbled.

"When exactly did that happen?" Carla asked, trying to put the vision into the back of her mind until she had the time to ponder it.

"Excellent work, my friend," Erza knelt down to her Pokémon and pat its head. "You're a good girl!"

"Mawile!" the now-reverted Mawile cried affectionately.


	11. The Celestial Prophet

**Hello, one and all! I just remembered the idea I was going to write last week but got sidetracked and forgot about it! I know it's kind of short, but I've been thinking about this since the first time I played Pokémon Y. It just seemed perfect as a base concept, and I know I haven't built on it much this time around. I don't have much else to say except enjoy!**

 **Chapter 11: The Celestial Prophet**

When the rest of her team saw Erza wield Mega Evolution, they were utterly shocked. Natsu demanded whilst spewing fire, "How could you keep this from us?!"

"It wasn't a secret!" Erza snapped, not having been so annoyed with him since he showed up to her court case dressed as her. "You just don't have an eye for detail! Geez… I thought at least Lucy would have noticed my Mega Earring. Seriously, have an eye for detail!"

"Aye!" Happy agreed simply for the play on words. "Do you want to go see a movie, Carla?"

"Let's report back to officially finish the job before we do anything else," Carla sighed, glancing at the cathedral that Erza fought on. "That poor church is going to need a new roof."

"Aww! That means _we_ have to pay for it out of our reward!" Lucy griped.

"I think this just proves that my Mawile has spirit!" Erza declared proudly. "I feel like a small rabbit ready to change the world with a partner like that at my side!"

"Um…what are you talking about?" Gray asked, lost at this point.

"So…what are your other two Pokémon?" Wendy asked.

"I suppose I will have to introduce you!" Erza decided and threw two Poké Balls up in the air. They burst open and a pink body built like a cake and a bug-like body that seemed to be equipped with armor sprang from the capsules. "Meet Slurpuff and Escavalier."

"Figures you'd have a cake and an armored beetle follow you around," Gray muttered.

"That's Erza for you!" Happy chimed in. He really, really, _really_ wanted to give that Slurpuff a lick. He glanced at Carla, and then he glanced again in shock! It was visible that she was resisting the urge to taste the sweet-looking Pokémon, too.

"That was very well done, Fairy Tail," the voice of a woman called out to them. They all looked over and saw a dark skinned woman wearing a silver band around her head, just below her purple hairline, a dark blue unitard, and a cape that was twinkling like stars. She seemed to have a cosmic radiance about her. With her were a male and female Meowstic.

"Whoa! Happy and Carla have Earthland doubles!" Natsu gasped and pointed.

"I can see how you'd think that, but that's not it," Wendy awkwardly pointed out to him.

"But that white one has the same sour look on her face that Carla does!" Natsu argued. "Look at it!"

"I beg your pardon?!" Carla took offense to Natsu's commentary, but it was Happy who hit him in the face with a fish.

"I think you handled that situation very well—keeping the property damage in mind, of course," the woman commended the wizards for their efforts.

"First of all, some of this was like that when we got here. Second, who are you?" Gray wanted answers.

"Wait! I know you! You're… You're Olympia! You're a Gym Leader from a country called Kalos!" Lucy realized and started to have a bit of a fan girl moment. "She's amazing! She has psychic powers and can see into the future! On top of that, she's a Celestial wizard with some of the rarest silver keys around!"

"Someone does her research. I like that," Olympia smiles. "I know about you, too, Lucy Heartfilia. Celestial Spirits love you. They adore you as they have adored members of your family for generations."

"You can see into the future? You're just like Carla!" Wendy announced. She picked up the white Exceed to show Olympia. "Carla and Queen Shagotte can see the future, too! And maybe Carla's half brother, Myo!"

"Seeing the future? No offense, but I think the present's just fine," Natsu openly gave his opinion.

Olympia was about to say something out of respect for his opinion when she got a good look at his face. She started to have a whole montage of visions revolving around Natsu. Her eyes widened. All of it stuck out in her mind. In seconds, she picked and chose visions that she felt would be safe to divulge to him. She approached him, but stopped into her third step and had more visions about the rest of the team.

"Hey, is something the matter?" Gray spoke up and asked. Everyone was concerned by the look on the Psychic-type Trainer's face.

"I see…you all…going to battle. An ancient weapon will rise and attempt to destroy us all in the light of someone's greed and darkness. You… Salamander… you and a Pokémon Ranger will do battle with the one responsible for the weapon's revival," Olympia divulged what she saw. "And—though some parts were vague—there is a chance some of you and/or your guild mates won't make it."

"What…?" Natsu could barely speak.

"Who? Who won't make it?!" Erza demanded. "I will protect as many of my comrades as I can, but I need to know who needs my protection the most!"

"I don't know… I'm sorry. It was unusually unclear. But I will tell you this. I haven't foreseen possibility so terrifying since I foresaw green fire engulf Kalos," Olympia responded, disappointed by the lack of information they needed. "If this happens before I go back to Kalos, you have my word that I will help you all as much as I can in the fight."

"Well…I can't say I'm all that surprised. This sort of thing happens often," Gray spoke up. "We'll just have to work hard so we can be prepared for what comes."

"I'm sorry. I feel I've opened a can of worms," Olympia apologized solemnly.

"No, this was good. If it's bound to happen, it would be better for us not to be blindsided by it. Thanks so much, Olympia!" Lucy thanked her fellow Celestial wizard, shaking her hands profusely. "Now…what keys do you happen to have?"

"Cetus the Whale, Lepus the Rabbit, and Aquila the Eagle to name a few," Olympia answered, which earned a joyful squeal from Lucy.


	12. Rise of the Mega Weapon

**I'm sorry! I know it's been a while! Between being away and working on other material, I've been kind of busy.**

 **And yes, by other material, I am referring to my Zootopia story, 'Ode to Carrots'. That movie is sooo good! I love it! It's a masterpiece! If you haven't seen it yet, X out of the internet, turn off your computer, and go see that movie. It's. That. Good.**

 **Hopefully, you all know I don't just leave stories unfinished. I delete them if they just don't work out, and this is working out fairly well for a crossover.**

 **Also, I am doing this on the laptop instead of the desktop, so for whatever reason, I can't put in the accent on the 'e' in Pokemon. I've tried copying and pasting. I've tried the control method. Nada. It's driving me nuts!**

 **One more thing.** _ **Do not read this chapter if you have not seen Spriggan Twelve's Jacob Lessio in action in the manga (or anime if you read this once the anime gets to that point). This chapter does briefly contain spoilers for it!**_

 **Enjoy!**

 **Chapter 12: Rise of the Mega Weapon**

Edward had finally finished his preparations. He and the other members of the Societea had gone far and wide, gathering strong wizards with a high tolerance for the ancient Steelhead armor, honing their own skills, and gaining the manpower of magic artisans needed to repair the Sky Fortress. The Societea had become so powerful that they did not even require the use of the Golden Armor. He wasn't all that sure why he was so driven to revive the Sky Fortress. Perhaps it was nostalgia, though he suspected it had more to do with his revival by Zeref. One thing was for sure, though.

"I will not let those meddlesome Rangers stop me again," Edward growled.

Hocus appeared behind the mastermind, asking him, "What's the target? Hargeon?"

"…We'll make our way to Magnolia, tearing down anyone who tries to stop us beforehand. Are you ready for combat?" Edward replied.

"As ever, Ed," Hocus assured him. "Our greatest trick will be making those pests disappear."

"You mean the Rangers?"

"Only by extension of Fairy Tail, which they joined, so say the rumors. Once this country sees its greatest superpower crumble, hope will cascade to ruin. Their hope," Hocus cackled deviously.

"You're absolutely right," Edward said to the magician, admiring the intellect that almost rivaled his own. The old doctor stretched, relieving his joints of tension. "This will be our finest hour, my friend."

"Arley and Kasa are all set downstairs," Hocus informed his comrade and boss. "When's our next act?"

"Now. Lower the flag," Edward ordered. Two Steelhead behind him pulled on a rope. A giant red banner fluttered as it unraveled, nearly touching the floor. On the flag was a teacup that was designed to look like a skull face. For its simplicity, it was rather ornate.

"I'll get the others ready," Hocus informed him and vanished in a flash of light.

Edward sighed deeply, thanking whatever divine force caused his companions to forget his treachery. Then, he thanked that divine force for existing. A world that knew nothing of the gods would be diseased. He pulled on his shirt collar to look at a scar on his chest. It was from his last battle with Ben. And from a time before that, also against Ben. There was a pattern there. The time before last, he had managed to save himself by shifting the position of his heart with the dark arts. Edward was glad he was a doctor as much as he was a thief and a crime master because reorganizing the structure of the body was risky business and not meant for the ignorant.

"What drives you, oh great world? What causes you to bring that boy and I together in mortal combat? Why not Ranger Thomas or Ranger Kellyn? Why none of the girls? Why _Ben_ of all the Pokemon Rangers? Is it destiny or does he simply like to intrude?" Edward asked openly, hoping some divine or extraterrestrial being would answer him.

"Perhaps he is driven by the notion of hope or fate being the world's driving force. It's hard to say, but he should have more respect for you," a voice answered from behind the elderly man. "You are his elder, after all."

Edward whirled around to see a tall, slender, middle-aged man wearing a dark suit. He had white gloves on. This mystery man also sported extremely short hair and stubble of a beard. Most notably, he had a small skull tattoo on his forehead. The mustached doctor asked, "Who in the heck are you? How did you get here?"

"Jacob Lessio, master assassin of the Alvarez Empire. I'm terribly sorry for the intrusion. I got here with the use of my magic, Transport. Being able to maneuver quickly and remain stealthy is important for me," Jacob told the older man. "Our emperor, Lord Spriggan, the one who resurrected you, sent me to check on your progress. If this goes well for you, he intends to formally welcome you into our empire," the middle aged man replied.

"So…you're not here to kill me?" Edward asked carefully, yet boldly.

"If I wanted to, sir, I would have a long time ago," Jacob respectfully responded. "I am also tasked with monitoring your activities. The Societea may be the 731st guild to enter our military. I'd like to think so."

"Us? A guild?"

"Well, not officially. If anything, this country treats you like a dark guild, but many of the dark guilds of this country sought our emperor's true self or his inventions. But Alvarez would welcome you as one."

"That…sounds like a huge honor," Edward feigned enthusiasm. Deep down, he felt he would just be lost in the sea of guilds overseas and not be able to shine through as a superpower. Especially since he'd let a man with such a powerful presence sneak onto the Sky Fortress so easily without being detected. There was a standard he wasn't sure he could live up to in his remaining years.

"It is. Take care, sir. I wish you the best of luck," Jacob said and vanished. He had left Edward alone to his thoughts.

 _I guess…it truly is now or never. I can't hold myself back!_ The elderly gentleman kept his thoughts to himself. He shouted, with his command reverberating throughout the giant mega weapon, "PREPARE FOR LIFTOFF!"

With that, the ancient fortress began to rise and move toward the designated target.


	13. The Lurking Evil

**Hey, all! I know it's been forever! I was busy with Ode to Carrots and getting a few people off my back. Also, I recently got into Hunter X Hunter. It's awesome! Check it out if an action-packed, clever anime is up your alley.**

 **Chapter 13: The Lurking Evil**

It had been about five days since Team Natsu had their run-in with Olympia. Things were quiet at Fairy Tail. Well, not really.

"HEY, PANTS, YOU WANT SOME?!" Natsu roared at Gray as he punched him in the face.

"BRING IT, PINKY!" Gray shouted as he punched back.

"BOTH OF YOU SHUT UP!" Gajeel snarled as he hit both of them with his guitar.

"IF YOU WERE REAL MEN, YOU'D TAKE THIS OUTSIDE!" Elfman bellowed.

Erza, who was trying to enjoy a nice slice of cake, was getting extremely agitated by the all-out brawl that was taking place in the guild. She saw Thomas walk by with Aaron in his arms and beckoned them over. She instructed the bespectacled teen, "Take care of them."

"Aye, sir," Thomas obliged. He placed Aaron down next to Erza and a strong wind gathered around him. He Requipped an ordinary-looking katana, but it was no ordinary katana. It was the legendary Gale Force Sword, Tempest, a blade that could control and become the wind. "Wind Slicer!" He swung his sword. A mighty gust of wind threw Gray, Elfman, Natsu, Gajeel, and other fighters into the wall of the guild.

"Wasn't that a little overboard?" Aaron asked his human partner.

"Not really. I used the back of the blade," Thomas informed the Exceed.

"Vileplume!" Vileplume vouched for its Trainer.

As this was going on, a familiar face to the Pokémon Rangers walked in, and he was accompanied by a tall, brown furred Exceed. This familiar face was Top Pokémon Ranger Kellyn. He was in uniform, and a white sword was strapped to his back. He wore a grim expression on his face. The brown exceed had blue eyes and wore a green vest and black pants. Thomas greeted, "Hey, Kellyn, it's been a while."

"I was here under better circumstances," Kellyn sighed. "You're not going to like this. And Ben's gonna—"

"Good morning, radioactive wombats!" Ben burst through the front door of the guild with Egon on one shoulder and Pichu on the other.

"Y'all radioactive wombats better sign in!" Egon exclaimed with a smile on his face. He saw the brown Exceed and his green eyes widened. "Zane?!" He jumped from Ben's shoulder and ran over to greet his seemingly old friend.

"Yo, Egon, it's been too long. How's Aaron?" the brown cat greeted.

"I'm here!" Aaron got off of the bench and ran over.

"Look at you; not bedridden anymore! When I went by the orphanage and they told me you guys ran away, I thought you two were going to die," Zane informed the orphaned brothers. "Don't you two ever do something so stupid again! You hear me?!"

"I had to do it, Zane. I had to get us out of there. Aaron and I would have been separated for sure," Egon clenched his fists and defended his and his brother's actions. His bandanna cast a shadow over his eyes. "We lost our mom, our dad, and our home. All we had left was each other." The white Exceed looked up into the brown Exceed's eyes. Those green pools were determined and without regret. "If I lost Aaron, I'd lose everything!"

"Egon-kun," Aiko mumbled as she was a spectator.

"Why are there so many talking cats all of a sudden?" Laxus asked as he listened to his Sound Pod.

"Don't look a gift horse in the mouth!" Gajeel scolded as he got up and started to approach Laxus. Levy tried to restrain him with her body to little avail.

"…I want a flying, talking cat…" Laxus grumbled. "These Rangers have cats and their not even Dragon Slayers… Ichiya has a cat and he's freaking Ichiya!"

"That man is beautiful according to Sorcerer Weekly!" Erza argued, now standing on the table she was eating at. The cake sat happily in her belly (at least we'd all like to think so to preserve a humane element in this absurdity).

"So, spill it. What're these unfortunate circumstances?" Thomas urged, sending Tempest away and crossing his arms.

"Off the coast of Hargeon…incoming…is the Sky Fortress…" Kellyn divulged, trying to choose his words carefully.

"Sky Fortress?" Elfman groggily echoed, still dazed from hitting the wall.

"A mega weapon that originated in the Oblivia region. A single blast from one of its four main cannons could wipe out a decent sized island and leave no remains. In other words, a blast from the Sky Fortress can be equal to a merciless barrage done by ten battleships all night," Thomas explained. "But how? We knocked that thing out of commission."

"Rumor has it that the Societea is back. I don't know how," Kellyn answered.

"They just can't stay dead, can they? It's ridiculous!" Hannah exclaimed.

"What's the Societea?" Happy raised a paw and asked.

Makarov, who was standing on a guard rail on the second floor, answered, "A band of formidable master thieves. When I was young, my team took a job in dealing with them. We never caught them, but he managed to take back what they stole on a raid. And we barely escaped with our lives."

Ever since the Societea was mentioned, Ben trembled in place. He practically radiated anger. Summer cautiously approached him. She called out, "Ben…"

"I can't believe this…! I promised Arceus that this thing would never unleash its power on the world again! And the Societea…they're beyond saving!" Ben growled. Pichu and Summer looked worried. Ben went on, "They're not going to get away with this!"

"You're darned right they're not! I'm gonna roast those geezers!" Natsu promised, brandishing a fiery fist. Ben looked back at Natsu and smiled, comforted by Natsu's determination.

"So it's settled. We're going to war against the Societea, and then afterward, Kellyn and Zane are joining Fairy Tail!" Thomas said what they had become obligated to do.

"Wait, what?!" Zane and Kellyn were confused.

Former Queen Shagotte, who had joined Fairy Tail to be with Carla, approached Aiko and hugged her. The older white cat spoke, "I'm so sorry. There's something you need to know."

"Hm?" Aiko looked confused.

"I should have told you sooner, but I am at fault in part for what you had undergone with Burnor. You see, he's a marquis—or at least he was in Extalia. A corrupt one at that. As I'm sure you know, you were part of the 100-Egg Evacuation Project. I assigned some adults to come down to Earthland with the 100 eggs to provide the children with some structure and identity, as well as preserve the Exceed legacy," Shagotte explained.

"And he was one of them," Aiko guessed.

"Yes. Aaron and Egon's parents were two more since their father was a notable scholar. If I had focused on keeping a better eye on Burnor, I don't think your parents would have ever amassed that huge debt and you wouldn't have gone through the trauma of being his slave," Shagotte's voice broke as she spoke.

"Queen Shagotte, I don't blame you for sending him down. Or anything else you've done that seems controversial. It was all for the kids," Aiko informed the ex-queen as she returned the hug. "Thank you for coming clean."

 _I never would have guessed that Mother would be so nurturing to everyone she met. I am glad she's of that nature, but does she really have to hold herself accountable for the actions of a corrupt marquis?_ Carla thought to herself.

"How quickly is the Sky Fortress moving?" Thomas asked Kellyn.

"Yeah. Do we need to be on there like yesterday or…?" Hannah added.

"We have some time to prepare, but the sooner we take that thing down, the better," Kellyn informed them.


	14. It Begins

**Hi, all! Here's chapter 14! I've been so caught up with school and end-of-the-year stuff and college prep and my Zootopia fic that my precious crossover tends to hit the backburner. Fear not, my friends, acquaintances, passers-by, and enemies! I'll see it through! I'm in too deep to delete it now, and I like it too much. Enjoy!**

 **Chapter 14: It Begins**

"Do you have any intel on who's working on the Sky Fortress?" Thomas asked Kellyn, who had just come in with devastating news of the ancient mega-weapon.

"Yeah, I have a few files," Kellyn told his fellow Ranger as he handed the files over.

Thomas opened the top file and Erza looked over his shoulder. They were both surprised to see what was inside and said, "This one is an Exceed."

"Let me see!" Aaron got on Thomas' head and eagerly looked on. "That's…an impressive scar."

Aiko felt her heart sink. An Exceed with a scar? Save for Pantherlily, she knew only one Exceed of that description. The pink Exceed trembled in terror at the thought of it being her former slave driver. Egon, seeing Aiko's distress, wrapped his arms around her comfortingly.

Shagotte, holding her and Pantherlily's young son, Myo, requested, "Thomas, may I see that?" The teenager passed the file to the adult Exceed, who muttered something under her breath when she saw the picture. "Burnor…" She faced her second husband and said, "I need you to watch the baby."

Before Pantherlily could get a word in edgewise, Gajeel volunteered, "You got it, ma'am! I'll watch the living daylights out of that cutie!"

"R-right…" Shagotte awkwardly acknowledged Gajeel's enthusiasm.

"Just remember he's _my_ son!" Pantherlily earnestly reminded his partner.

"Details, details!" Gajeel exclaimed and crouched down, holding a finger out for Myo to grab. "Myo likes his Uncle Gaj."

"Gaj?" Shagotte and Pantherlily echoed.

"Aye!" Myo exclaimed with a big, happy smile.

"Whoa!" Erza gasped and nearly pushed Thomas over at the sight of the next file. "This man's head is on fire!"

Gray looked at the picture and saw a man with a fiery head. "We know him, don't we?"

"I've forgotten him," Erza grumbled in shame. "Shame on me. That's so rude of me! When we see him, I'll give him one free revenge shot."

"You guys mean Hino?" Natsu asked, lounging in a booth now.

"Of all people, you remember him?!" Gray demanded, shocked.

"Of course! I fought him a couple times, right? How could I forget?" Natsu asked with a shrug. He said to Happy, "They must think I'm stupid or something."

"That's so mean-spirited!" Happy exclaimed in Natsu's defense.

"He forgets half the people he meets!" Gray exclaimed in his own defense. "You want a piece of me, cat?!" He stripped, ready to fight the blue cat.

"I'll have to take a rain check!" Happy informed the ice mage politely, yet fearfully and hid behind Natsu. "I'm not ready to die yet!"

"At any rate, we've got to get up there as soon as possible. It doesn't matter who we're fighting; we're fighting for the sake of Fiore and even beyond that," Ben concluded.

"Well said, but how are we going to do it? They probably beefed up their defense array, and that has a 1000-meter range," Hannah reminded him.

"We'll get fried if we aren't careful, and we don't know what to expect," Summer added.

"You guys just leave that to me. I've got a plan to get us up there," Cana assured everyone.

Meanwhile, Edward was sitting in a chair-a throne of sorts-waiting for their conquest to begin. A Steelhead soldier barged in, apologizing, "Forgive me, Lord Edward! We've got several small organisms on radar! Please have a look!"

Without saying anything or even twitching, Edward activated a floating lacrima to see several small Exceeds flying toward the Sky Fortress, and they were all holding something. The mastermind sighed, "I'm getting too old for these cat videos you kids find so fascinating."

"That's not it, sir! We think it's an invasion!" the Steelhead nervously reported.

"So shoot them down," Edward ordered passively. "They're cats."

"Y-yes, sir," the Steelhead said as he bowed and left the room to go back downstairs and commence the defensive onslaught.

Meanwhile, Happy, Carla, Aaron, Egon, Aiko, Hana, Zane, Ester, Samuel, Marl, and Shagotte were all flying towards the Sky Fortress. Each of them was holding a small stack of cards.

"We're within range. Be careful, you guys!" Summer cautioned Aiko and the other Exceeds, inside one of the cards.

"R-right," Aiko said nervously.

"Aiko, listen, I promise I'll be right there with you. You don't have to be scared. You're free, and I won't let him take your freedom away from you," Summer promised her partner, causing the pink cat to smile. Her ruby red eyes sparkled with faith.

"Thank you, Summer," Aiko thanked her partner and held the cards to her chest like a precious treasure. When she heard cries of protest, she suddenly remembered that the cards were her comrades and stopped pressing them to her chest the way she was. She began to frantically apologize, "I'm so sorry! Please forgive me! It slipped my mind! I am so, so, so sorry!"

Egon smiled as he looked back at Aiko. He admired her kind heart. She had had a rough life, and yet she was so sweet. Ben, as if he had been reading his cat partner's mind, said, "The same applies to you, Egon."

"You really think so?" Egon asked as he looked down at Ben's card.

"Totally! You lost both of your parents, your home, and until recently, you were only hanging onto your brother by a thread. You've stayed kind throughout," Ben assured the cat. "That's the thing about this guild. Everyone has had their own hell and high water, but we always pull through for each other. Natsu's spent nearly half a lifetime searching for his foster-father. Gray's home was destroyed by a demon. Erza, like Aiko, was once a slave. Lucy, after losing her mother, ran away from her neglectful father and the dark loneliness that her lifestyle retained. A lot of us at the guild have lost at least one parent, many have lost both. Some lost even more. But we've all gained something in each other. You don't lose everything if something happens to Aaron anymore. We'd all lose something, but not a shoulder to cry on."

"Say…what exactly does Thomas see in Aaron as a partner? I mean, they both wear glasses, but that's the only connection I can see," Egon asked Ben.

"I think he sees your brother as a brother of his own. From what I know, Thomas used to get sick all of the time when he was younger than you and Aaron are now. Pneumonia twice within five years. He's lost his father to illness. Several comrades to war-torn wastelands. He knows where you guys are coming from. Plus, he loves cats," Ben informed the white Exceed.

"Gosh… What about you? What have you lost?" Egon curiously questioned.

"I'll save that for another time," Ben assured Egon.

"Incoming!" Happy called out from the front. The Exceeds soon found themselves dodging magic bullets that were just a tad slower than lightning.

"Geez! They're faster than last time!" Thomas observed.

"Kyaa!" Lucy shrieked.

"Happy, not so fast! I think I'm going to be sick…" Natsu whined from his card.

"Have you lost your mind?!" Happy demanded, not slowing down. "I've got to be in top form for that race on Saturday!"

"That's what's on your mind!" Carla shrieked, flabbergasted.

"He certainly has a unique charm!" Shagotte, who was leaning on Marl for flight support, giggled.

"He's my happy child," Marl said with a proud smile on her face.

"I've got an idea! Solid Script: Mist!" Ester cast a solid script spell. The word 'MIST' appeared in the air and expanded over a relatively large area.

"I'm so proud!" Levy oozed with pride from her card.

"That was brilliant, Essie!" Samuel commended the cream-colored Exceed.

"Let's try to go faster as long as this cover lasts!" Aaron recommended.

"Aye, sir!" Happy exclaimed and sped up, the other Exceeds in hot pursuit. Magic bullets whizzed past them, but without any concentration. The Sky Fortress was firing blindly. Ester's plan was working.

"Mama, are you doing okay back there?!" Happy asked, his voice reaching towards the back of the pack.

"Yes, I'm fine, dear!" Marl called forward.

"I'm sorry about this, Marl," Shagotte guiltily apologized. She needed the support due to her single wing, but she didn't like being a burden to anyone.

"It's fine," Marl assured. "What matters is us being able to do our part."


	15. Queen VS Marquis

**I am so sorry! I was shocked when I saw how long it had been since I last worked on this story! I swear I haven't forgotten it! Here's the proof! I've been caught up with other stuff, including other stories! Speaking of which, if you like fluff and have heard of an anime series called Jewelpet (specifically Jewelpet Sunshine), then I recommend my newest fic, "Love, Self-Control, and Redemption".**

 **Anyway, the first of the fights on the Sky Fortress is here. Please enjoy! Happy Independence Day to all of my American peeps! Pasta la vista, fanfictionistas! Enjoy!**

 **Chapter 15: Queen VS Marquis; Fight for What Is Right**

Because none of them had Stylers or Pokémon, the Exceeds managed to avoid the Sky Fortress' Pokémon by flying around in a mad panic. It was the same way they avoided being shot out of the sky. However, they had one final barrier method that no one was anticipating. Sitting on the landing ring in anticipation was none other than the Exceed noble, Burnor. Egon's green eyes burned with anger. _He's the one who abused Aiko!_

"Egon, what's going on out there?" Ben asked from inside his card.

Egon looked down at the card and into Ben's concerned brown eyes. He said, "I want to get revenge for Aiko."

"Don't do anything stupid! Just focus on looking after your brother! I bet he hasn't flown like that in ages!" Ben exclaimed, trying to rein Egon in.

"I don't think any Exceed has flown like that before," Happy cut in. He looked down at the top card in his small deck and saw Natsu's eyes spinning. The cat reminded his partner, "Natsu, this card isn't a vehicle."

"Based on the proportion of my size in here to the card, I'd consider this a vehicle!" Natsu exclaimed in dismay, sounding uncharacteristically mathematical.

"Natsu! Are you okay?! You sound like you're thinking! You never do that!" Happy exclaimed, beginning to panic as he landed.

"Happy, have some faith in him!" Lucy scolded from her card, which was underneath Natsu's. "Albeit you're not exactly wrong."

The other Exceeds landed and looked at Burnor, who was smiling evilly at them. Egon was about to approach when Cana materialized and released Ben from his card state. Ben stopped Egon by placing his foot in front of him. Cana explained, "If I released too many of us, we're going to have casualties left and right. I couldn't forget something like that no matter how much I drink."

Burnor, who was sitting on top of a Steelhead-shaped statue, was holding a sword in his arms. His menacing grin seemed to be directed towards a trembling Aiko. Egon wrapped his arms around Aiko and let out a low growl towards Burnor. Shagotte gave her cards to Marl and approached Happy. The ex-queen asked, "Do you have the item I asked you to hang onto?"

"Aye!" Happy answered and swung his green backpack around to the front of his body and pulled out a long sword in a sheath that looked like it shouldn't have fit in the bag. "Kick his butt, Miss Shagotte!"

"Y-your Highness…" Aiko sniffled.

"I need to correct the mistake of leaving your actions unchecked, Burnor. I'm glad to see you came prepared," Shagotte told Burnor with a stoic face.

"Her Highness, Queen Shagotte d'Extalia everyone!" Burnor announced to the other Exceeds and two humans. The larger (in more ways than one) Exceed jumped off the statue and in front of Shagotte, glaring down at her in confidence. The white female just glared up at him in disgust.

"…Those claw marks on your face suit you," Shagotte simply said as she drew her sword, referring to the scars that remained when Aiko clawed his face. "They're evidence of karma."

"…Aiko," Burnor spoke up so Aiko could hear him, "do you believe in karma?"

Aiko whimpered and trembled, not sure how to answer. She still feared his beatings. She feared being thrown down the stairs. She feared being stripped and humiliated. She feared waking up chained to her shoddy bed. She feared her past as it reared its ugly head in the present. She shoved her cards into Egon's free paw and ran to the edge of the landing ring to vomit over the side. Egon watched in amazement.

"What," Shagotte began to ask as she watched in horror and sorrow, "the hell did you do to the poor thing?!"

"It's called discipline, Your Highness," Burnor gave a simple answer based on his point of view.

"No, discipline is telling your child 'no' so they're not spoiled rotten and showing them that there is such a thing as consequences. Whatever you did to her is abuse!" Shagotte snarled as she attacked Burnor, who blocked her sword with his own. "Everyone, get going! I'll hold him off!"

"Mother!" Carla cried out, trying to run to her mother. Happy held her back. "Happy, let go! I have to help her!"

"Trust your mama, Carla!" Happy implored.

"She'll be fine, Carla. I believe that," Wendy vouched from within her card.

"Oh, yeah, that bridge that connects the landing ring to the entrance is broken. It happened during reconstruction. I flew out here. Good luck getting in, Hero," Burnor taunted Ben as he brought his sword down on Shagotte, who blocked. Even though she blocked, the force of his sword cut into the shoulder of her short sleeve.

"Son of a…!" Ben growled. "Wait, we can just fly in. Alright! And if this thing breaks piece by piece, even better! I just want to punish Ed 'The Thinker' for endangering my promise to Arceus."

"As in _the_ Arceus?!" Ester exclaimed in joy and shock. "The Original One?! You Rangers hog all the good experiences for yourselves! Oh, I can solve our bridge problem! Solid Script: Bridge!"

The letters B, R, I, D, G, and E fused together to create a sturdy bridge to the entrance. Cana, Ben, and every Exceed but Shagotte and Aiko ran in. Egon called back, "Aiko, come on! Aiko!" Giving his and Aiko's cards to Aaron, he flew out and helped Aiko up. The pink cat's ruby red eyes were glazed over by shock. The white Exceed took off his treasured red bandanna—the one that had once belonged to his father—and tied it around Aiko's neck like a scarf. She seemingly came out of her shock when he said, "You're not alone anymore. I'm always going to protect you."

Together, the two 13-year-old Exceeds ran across the bridge as Burnor sent Shagotte skidding backwards. The ex-queen wondered, _How in the world did he get all this strength? And his sword skills are incredible!_

As if voicing her thoughts, Burnor teased, "I love how perplexed you are, trying to figure me out like I'm a man of many secrets. You wonder how I got to be so strong. Why my sword skills are so honed? I have nothing to hide. The Societea bestowed power unto me. With this power, society will recognize me for my greatness!"

Shagotte growled, "You prey on the weak and the young to assert dominance! I never saw it until I met Aiko, and I kick myself for it even now. I always thought you were just an Exceed who was all talk. King Cedric said you'd always bite off more than you could chew when you thought no one was looking. You're a greedy, evil man!"

"Ah, King Cedric, your late husband, was famous for his combat prowess as well as his eye magic. While you have the gift of foresight," Burnor recounted as he attacked again. Shagotte blocked again, but more of her shirt was torn. Burnor continued, "He had the gift of insight. His eye magic was incredible."

"You're consumed by all seven of the deadly sins. Each one I think applies to you perfectly," Shagotte panted, starting to get warn down. Burnor whistled at her partially exposed cleavage, and she growled at him. Then, an idea struck her. As Burnor charged at her, she looked into the immediate future to see how he would attack. He would jab forward at her, so she dodged left. Burnor looked stunned. Shagotte used his shock to her advantage and kicked Burnor in the face.

Recovering, Burnor complimented, "Well played, my queen."

"Thanks. You, too. I think I'm going to have fun with this," Shagotte said with an amused giggle.

"Sadly, I don't have time to play with you. Your comrades will get too far if I stick around," Burnor smugly pointed out. Shagotte dashed forward and kicked him in the gut, sending him skidding backwards.

"Maybe if you lay off the snacks and exercised a bit, you'd have a better time defeating me and catching up to them!" Shagotte suggested.

"Shut up and look pretty. It's what queens do best," Burnor snarled and pounced, intending to pin her. Shagotte rolled out of the way as he came down. Burnor hit the landing ring with a shockwave, and the shockwave sent Shagotte tumbling backwards. She went over the edge of the landing ring and was dangling by just one paw. She figured that if she fell, her one wing wouldn't be able to give her enough lift to get her back up. The next thing she knew, Burnor was standing over her. He started laughing maniacally. "You lose, Shagotte the Family Destroyer! AHAHAHAHA! A stronger opponent above, and the open sky below with waiting land for you to go splat on at the bottom—"

Shagotte had used her other paw to thrust her sword into Burnor's shoulder. Darkly, she said, "I did what I did to save the children. Don't you ever forget that, you corrupt piece of garbage in a marquis' suit." She let go of the sword and pulled herself back onto the landing ring. She then yanked the sword out of the former marquis. "You don't have the political power that you had in Extalia. Deep down, you knew that. That's why you abused Aiko. You wanted as much power as you could to compensate for it. What I won't forgive…" Shagotte stabbed Burnor's right leg, "…is child abuse, especially at the paws of a man I entrusted our species' future to!" Shagotte kicked Burnor in the face and knocked him out.

The former queen looked in the direction of the bridge that Ester created and saw it start to fade. She immediately took action and pulled her sword out of Burnor's leg, then dashed over to the bridge and crossed it, setting foot in the entrance of the Sky Fortress at the last possible second.


	16. Steelhead Assault

**Here's chapter 16! It's been a long time coming, but this could take six or seven more chapters to wrap up. I'm getting in touch with my Cappy side again! Enjoy!**

 **Chapter 16: Steelhead Assault**

Cana released all of her comrades from their card states once they were inside the Sky Fortress. Natsu and Gajeel immediately grew motion sick. Wendy cast Troia on them and hoped that it would last. Gajeel, as soon as he felt better, punched a wall and growled, "Darn it, Lily, why'd you have to stay behind?!"

"The perks of being a father," Ester sighed and shrugged in Levy's arms.

"They might not know we're inside yet. Let's try to get to the top as quickly as possible. Which Ranger fights which Societea member is set; Hannah and Arley, Summer and Kasa, Hocus and me, and lastly, Ben and Ed 'The Thinker'," Thomas told his comrades. "The beauty of grudge matches is that their easy to anticipate."

"You think that the four of you are going it alone? We're not going to stand aside as you put yourselves into danger," Erza informed the bespectacled Requip wizard.

"Fine by me," Thomas said with a faithful smile. "It's times like this when Fairy Tail gives me hope for the morality of humanity."

"There's one threat we need to be on the lookout for until we reach the upper floors: the Steelhead soldiers," Summer stated, recalling the manipulative power of that evil armor. "The Societea probably found some leftover Steelhead armor and distributed it to their followers."

"Whether or not they're using mind control to control the Steelhead will remain to be seen. Since the Societea doesn't have the Golden Armor anymore, but has control of the Sky Fortress, they could—in theory, mind you—use the Sky Fortress as a medium to convey this new force onto the Steelhead," Thomas theorized. He saw smoke coming out of Natsu's ears. "Oops. I broke Natsu again."

"This hasn't happened since you tried to explain what a stand alone complex was," Lucy recalled as she supported Natsu. Natsu's Charmander looked dizzy. It took Lucy to realize that Charmander was motion-sick. She was stunned. "Uh…"

"I got it," Wendy announced and started casting Troia on Charmander.

The group soon started moving, dodging and triggering booby traps of many kinds. Spears, spikes, flames, Pokémon—you name it, it probably happened to the Fairy Tail group. On the upside, Cana got a Meditite out of it.

"Card Net!" Cana had used her highly versatile card magic to ensnare the Fighting- and Psychic-type. It was unconventional, yet not unheard of. She said to the Meditite, "You can come out on one condition: you are _so_ joining Fairy Tail."

"Meditite…" the Meditite admitted defeat.

"Just like that?!" Wendy exclaimed.

Carla seemed distant. Her chocolate brown eyes were filled with concern. Happy tapped her shoulder. Carla blinked and looked at him. She apologized, "I'm sorry. Did you say something?"

"No. It's just…you look like something's bothering you. Are you okay, Carla?" Happy asked the white Exceed.

"Yes, I'm fine. I'm just worried about my mother…" Carla admitted. She found herself leaning on Happy, which surprised her a bit, but she didn't move away from him. Happy was an individual of unique charisma and open friendliness.

"I can understand that, but something tells me that your mama knows how to hold her own," Happy informed Carla. "Queen Shagotte seems plenty strong because she believes in her people and wants to protect them."

Aiko, who was ahead of them a little bit, was listening to their conversation. Her ears drooped. She knew that Shagotte was fighting for her. The former-queen was fighting the fight that Aiko herself was afraid to fight. Her ruby red eyes were focused on the ground. Egon could tell that the situation was bothering the pink Exceed and grasped her paw. Aiko made herself look up into Egon's sea green eyes. The white male smiled at her. She couldn't help but flash a small smile back.

"Halt, Fairy Tail!" a voice with a metallic echo ordered them. Surely enough, there were six soldiers in armor complete with spiky helmets standing before them. The Steelhead in the front middle—assumingly the leader of the squad—said, "Thou shall not pass."

"So…we shan't? Care to make a wager on that?" Thomas asked as he Requipped a shiny sword. His Requip was mainly used for weaponry.

Summer summoned a crossbow and aimed it. "Now you'll see why I'm called the Raptor Queen," she said.

Erza's eyes widened in anger. She said in a menacingly calm voice, "You guys were right. My, what disgraceful armor. It radiates a disgustingly evil aura. This is immoral use of magic in the highest degree." She used Requip and in the amount of time it took to blink, she was donning her Flight Armor, toppling one of the Steelhead.

"When she's right, she's right," Natsu summed up Erza's…well, he summed up Erza. "That armor looks really cool, though."

"Piercing Storm Shot!" Summer called on a spell as she fired the crossbow. The shot of wind managed to blow a Steelhead into the wall and crack his armor.

"Klatoptris!" Thomas called out his sword's name as a Steelhead drew his sword and charged at him. There was suddenly two of the bespectacled Ranger, and the Ranger and the mirror copy attacked the charging Steelhead from either side.

"I've read about that sword! That's Klatoptris the Mirror Blade! It's a sword that uses Mirror Magic to cast illusions and harness enemy attacks!" Aaron exclaimed, proud of what he'd read.

"Where does he get all of these swords?" Lucy asked Hannah as she tripped a Steelhead who had gotten up with her whip.

"He's done a lot of solo ops in remote areas, ruins, et cetera. It's a little ridiculous, but they've all come in handy," Hannah answered as she dropkicked a Steelhead, knocking him out.

"Six of these guys versus a bunch? These guys aren't all that smart, are they?" Natsu asked as he punched one of the Steelhead in the gut.

"Gotta give them props for getting back up, though," Gajeel pointed out as he ate the left spike off of one of the helmets. "Blech! This tastes terrible!"

"What are these guys?!" the Steelhead whose helmet Gajeel was eating cried out. In a panic, he went to slam his fist on one of the stone floor tiles.

Carla's eyes suddenly turned blue and she eyed the stone tile. Somehow, she was able to see that it was a switch that would seal off their path. The white feline cried out, "Don't let him touch that tile!"

Lucy used her whip to grab hold of the Steelhead's wrist, and not a moment too soon. Ben took out a sheet of standard 8 ½ x 11 inch white paper and a roll of tape. He taped the paper over the tile and said, "There. Now no one will step on it." He received a hoard of quizzical stares from his friends, but it wasn't anything he wasn't used to. He smiled with pride.

"That's your partner," Aaron giggled and nudged Egon.

"Yours was honking at Pidgey when he drove a magic four-wheeler," Egon said with a triumphant grin on his face.

"That's always an interesting story to hear him tell," Aaron sighed.

"Carla, how did you know about the tile?" Happy asked Carla. He himself wasn't sure what was wrong with it, but he trusted Carla's judgment with every fiber of his being.

"I-I don't know," Carla admitted, her eyes brown again. "I just saw it…"

"Carla," Marl said the white cat's name as she approached her, "I think that was your father's eye magic. Of course, I'd never met your father, but rumors and legends of his eye magic, which went by many names, ran rampant through Edolas. Some call it the Power of Insight. Some called it God's Eyes or Angel's Eyes. I've even heard Heart Eyes. Whatever you'd prefer, I think that what you just described fits what King Cedric would have seen had he been in your position."

"Eye magic…?" Carla echoed. She had been told that before her egg was laid, her father had passed away due to illness. She had never gotten to meet him. Since she had been told of her father's death, she wondered about what he was like and how they were alike. She now had a memento of her father encoded in her DNA. Shagotte had once told Carla that she had her father's eyes, but she always thought that simply meant that her father had brown eyes in his lifetime. Tears welled up in her eyes. With a lopsided, wavering smile, she whispered, "Thank you… Daddy…"

"Carla, that's so cool!" Happy exclaimed as he hugged the female that he oh so admired.

"Everyone, let's go!" Ben attracted his comrades' focus. "There's a group of elderly folks who need to start acting their age. Ages. Whatever! Whoo!"

"AYE, SIR!" the Fairy Tail wizards exclaimed as a collective.


	17. Plot Against the Neo Societea

**Wow, it's been a while since I've written for this one. Between college, two other ongoing stories and other stuff, I've inadvertently put this one on the back burner. I do plan to see this through, though! Hello everyone. Welcome back to the Fairy Rangers. Now, I'd say we're four or five more chapters until the end. Until then, please enjoy.**

 **Chapter 17: Plot Against the Neo-Societea**

The Fairy Tail team was almost at the top of the Sky Fortress now. By this point, they'd braved countless traps, Pokémon battles, magic brawls and even Troia wearing off once. They finally reached a corridor that four of the five Pokémon Rangers knew very well; the corridor below the top floor that connected three rooms. The door to the top was sealed shut. Thomas muttered, "Déjà vu…"

"I know the Sign for the door! I can open it!" Ben exclaimed. He activated Sign Mode on his Styler and focused intensely on the pattern he remembered, which essentially was three triangles put together. He drew the Sign, but the door did not react. "What the?! Let me try again!"

"Ben, it's a multiple-layered defense array. My guess is that the Societea members Hocus, Kasa and Arley are each occupying one of the rooms on this floor and defeating them will unlock part of the Sign that you need to draw. Basically, the Societea members are locks to a lock, but also keys to a lock," Thomas theorized. He saw smoke coming out of Natsu's ears and cried, "Not again!"

"So how do we do this?" Hannah asked.

"I call dibs on Kasa," Summer called.

"I've got a better idea than dibs," Cana announced and pulled a piece of chalk out of her purse. "We're going to predict which of us will go into a room and which of us will stay here." Cana drew an arrow that pointed to the left, an arrow that pointed right and an arrow that pointed down the middle of the room. She then drew a circle that connected the arrows. "Here's how this will work; whatever arrow your card lands near will be the room you go to. If your car lands in the circle, you stay here and wait for all three parts of the Sign to appear on the door."

"Sounds fair," Gray said with Juvia hugging him. Castform was tucked in her arm. Gray looked down at the Castform squished against him, then at the Juvia smothering him. He had no words, but a faint smile was hidden in his lips.

"Aww, you look totally in looove!" Happy teased, making lovey-dovey gestures.

"I will totally punt you through a freaking wall, cat!" Gray threatened.

"Cana, please do it before I have to write in 'mutiny' in my latest report," Thomas requested.

"We all write the reports. Just…mostly Thomas. His written works get hysterical when he does. That usually happens over poker," Summer explained.

"I heard that associating you Pokémon Rangers with poker was terrible for mankind," Lucy pointed out.

"You heard right. Ben created a fifth suit which would subsequently kill solitaire," Hannah acknowledged Lucy's point and cited a personal example while shooting Ben an annoyed glance.

"Dots. Don't leave home without them," Ben advised with an all-too-satisfied smile.

"You're insane," Egon told his partner as Ukulele Pichu nodded in agreement.

"But I love him…" Summer mumbled.

"Okay, here goes!" Cana said as she threw the cards up in the air. They all fluttered for a bit before descending onto their destined routes. "Okay, right bound people… Erza! Aaron! Me! Thomas! Bring your Pokémon with you! Though…Aaron doesn't have any. Should non-humans be Pokémon Trainers? That's sort of a gray area. Oh, cool, I'm going!"

"I was hoping for that room," Thomas commented.

"Vileplume!" Vileplume exclaimed in agreement.

"Yeah, we do have beef with Hocus," Thomas recalled.

"Well, I'm honored to be fighting with you," Erza told the bespectacled Ranger.

"What's this Hocus like?" Aaron asked curiously.

"Four years ago, he liked to resort to illusions. They were probably reflections of his own delusions of grandeur. I wouldn't know about now, but his magical capacity is vast. He probably has more tricks up his sleeve now than he ever did," Thomas said, his green eyes beginning to go wild. "Let's try to have some fun with this."

"Try to keep a leash on your madness," Erza advised.

"Left bound people! Okay, it looks like Wendy, Carla, Aiko, Lucy and Summer!" Cana announced. "Good luck!"

"Sweet! That means I get Kasa!" Summer exclaimed in triumph. "Watch out and don't bet separated. She's a master of disguise. They say that there's no one alive who knows what she truly looks like."

"She sounds gaudy…" Carla sighed.

"I'm all fired up!" Lucy exclaimed in determination and cracked her whip. "Let's go!"

"Are you okay?" Happy poked Lucy's leg and asked. "You're never excited for a fight."

"All of Fiore is at stake! Now's not the time to get picky," Lucy explained and winked.

"Lucy, that's nightmare fuel!" Happy teased.

"Aww, I want to fight. Please let me be in the next room!" Natsu whined.

"Middle room people! It looks like we've got Juvia, Gray and Hannah. Oh, Hana, too," Cana reported as she checked the cards.

"Stay away from Gray-sama and we can be best friends!" Juvia advised as she shook Hannah's hands.

"I wouldn't dream of it, Juvia!" Hannah promised.

Hana approached Gray, who looked down at her. They smiled at each other. Gray turned to Hannah and asked, "So who's in the middle?"

"Probably Arley. He's great with strength magic. He was a lumberjack in his lifetime and even further back in the day, he was a wrestler called Arley the Destroyer," Hannah informed the ice wizard. "My Combusken evolved from Torchic while fighting him."

Combusken nodded in approval. Just then, Thomas' Braixen let herself out of her Poké Ball and took a few steps toward Combusken, blushing. The male Fire- and Fighting-type smiled at the female Fire-type.

"B-Braixen, Braixen…" Braixen wished Combusken good luck.

"Combusken!" Combusken thanked her and gave her a brief hug.

"That just leaves me, Ben, Happy and Natsu," Egon pointed out while looking at the cards.

"Aye," Happy agreed. "Anyone else we brought along stayed behind to fend off any Steelhead who wake up."

"Pichu, Pichu, Pichu!" Pichu chimed in, letting Ben know that they would pull through this like the last time.

"You're right, buddy," Ben agreed with a smile. While the thought of Edward roaming around again was disconcerting, he had to be confident in his skills and resolve. Lives were on the line.


	18. Spellmaster Hocus

**So we're winding down to the big Societea battles. I'm pumped for this! What could be in store? Well, you'll have to read and find that out! I've had these battles planned out for a long time. Probably since way back when I wrote chapter 12 or something like that. This chapter probably took me a solid six hours or so. Aaron has a secret. What? I didn't say anything about a secret. What are you talking about? =3**

 **Well, enjoy, friends! Pasta la vista!**

 **Chapter 18: Spellmaster Hocus**

When Cana, Erza, Thomas and Aaron stepped into the right room, they found themselves standing on clouds. Everyone but Thomas was shocked. Cana gasped, "We're outside?!"

"I guess you really can't teach old dogs new tricks," Thomas sighed lightly and said. "This is just an illusion. To Hocus, all of this is one big magic show."

"That's right, I forgot; you've fought this guy before, right?" Aaron asked. His human partner gave a nod. "What's he like?"

"He tends to glorify himself, caught in his own illusionary grandeur. For the enemy, he's a rather pleasant conversationalist. Summer thinks he would have been happier if he had continued to stay retired as a thief. She thinks his calling is making kids smile as a magician. I guess I can relate to such ideology," Thomas explained Hocus' tendencies. "Making people smile… Making a difference…"

"At any rate, do you have countermeasures planned?" Erza asked.

"Yeah. Can I request that you guys only step in if it's an emergency, though?" Thomas requested as he trekked over the illusionary clouds. He used Requip and summoned a double-edged katana with a jet black blade. "They call this sword Xarion the Jet Black Soul Cutter. It can cut through magic power and can even split a soul in half, hence the name."

"Whoa! How'd you manage to find that?" Cana asked him.

"I managed to survive grasping it when I was on a solo op of my own volition," Thomas explained. Cana's eyes widened, and the young man further explained, "That's right. This sword cuts souls, even the soul of the wielder. I can't use it for too long. It wears out the user's body to the point of vulnerability, but its power is immense."

"You can't be serious!" Erza snapped.

"If you use that sword, you could die…?" Aaron asked, devastated. He didn't want to lose anyone, not yet. Not so soon after he and his brother became part of a family again.

"Relax. I only intend to use it to cut down his illusions. I just feel the need to toy with him a bit," Thomas assured. "My blood is boiling with excitement!"

"…I'll abide by your request. But I get to decide what's considered an emergency," Erza set her condition.

"As you wish," Thomas agreed to her terms. "Oh, yeah, don't fall."

Just then, Cana slipped and almost fell through a gap in the clouds. Erza grabbed her hand just in time. Cana dropped her purse when she slipped and she growled, "Oh, crap!"

Just then, the fuzzy blue purse fell from the sky and landed by the entrance. Even Thomas looked shocked this time. Aaron concluded, "So in regard to our lives, it's okay if we fall because we can't die from it."

"Still, it would set us back if we got pretty far. I hate cheap tricks…" Erza growled. Suddenly, for a brief moment, her tension went away and she started looking around. _That feels like…no, it couldn't be. It's just my imagination._

"Erza-san?" Aaron called out Erza's name, gazing up at her with his big, golden eyes. She met his gaze and smiled. She knelt down and pat his head, letting him know that she was okay.

"He's toying with us," Thomas concluded, focused on defeating Hocus.

Cana went and grabbed her purse and the four of them trekked across the clouds, the gaps making the pathway feel like a maze. Something that they all noticed was that they were the only ones in the chamber. There were no humans, nor Exceeds nor Pokémon. Erza commented, "This feels too easy."

"I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks so," Cana remarked, keeping cards between her fingers so they were ready to use in a moment's notice.

Aaron suddenly realized something. He gasped, "I'm the only one who's unarmed!"

"You can fight with me," Thomas offered. "Now which Pokémon partner should I use?"

"Well, what do you have?" Cana asked.

Thomas took out some Poké Balls and gently tossed them. In addition to Vileplume and Braixen, he had Doublade, Sylveon and Swampert. Erza instantly exclaimed, "Use Mega Evolution!"

"Maybe I should wait it out and see how many, if any, Pokémon Hocus will use. I feel like he's liable to pull out all the stops for his best show yet," Thomas decided. He knelt down and his Pokémon gathered around him. "Alright, you guys. The stakes are high this time, but we're ready for anything, right?"

"Swampert!" Swampert bellowed and gave his Trainer a tight, affectionate hug. Second only to Vileplume, Swampert had been with Thomas longer than any of the other Pokémon. They'd been together since the green-eyed human's days journeying Hoenn before he went to Almia to attend Ranger School.

"Let's all have a team pow-wow," Erza suggested, but it seemed more like a command. She threw her three Poké Balls. Escavalier, Slurpuff and Mawile were out in a flash.

"Me, too!" Cana exclaimed as she took two Poké Balls from her purse. She tossed them and out popped a Spinda and a small, brown, canid Pokémon. She picked them up and lifted the dog-like Pokémon as if to emphasize it. "This is Rockruff."

"Oh, my gosh! It's adorable!" Thomas gushed. "I've never seen one before."

"I got it as an Egg as a reward from doing a job for a family from an island region," Cana boasted.

"Ruff!" Rockruff barked and wagged its tail.

"Spin, Spinda!" Spinda chimed in.

"Alright, everyone. We're in for the fight of all fights! I know I say that a lot, but this time I mean it," Erza told all of the Pokémon. "Fight with pride! For Fairy Tail!"

All of the Pokémon let out a battle cry then and there, proud of the guild that they, too, were a part of and wore the symbol of.

"Forward march!" Erza commanded and everyone ran into the next chamber.

"My, my, what gumption," Hocus marveled, leaning on his staff. At his side were his Crobat (at normal size, thankfully), two Gengar, a Chandelure, a Porygon-Z and a Malamar.

"I see you're prepared," Thomas commended. "So are we."

"So I see," Hocus sneered. He took out a deck of cards. "Here! Pick a card!" He threw the entire deck. When all 52 cards were relatively close to them, they exploded. Hocus waited for the smoke to clear. Erza had donned her Adamantine Armor and blocked the conjoined blasts in the nick of time. "So this is the famous Titania. In addition to Thomas the Archfiend Hunter and Miss Cana 'Barrel-Buster' Alberona, we certainly are in for a good show."

"Who calls me Barrel-Buster?!" Cana demanded. "Rockruff, aim for Gengar and use Bite!"

"Rockruff!" Rockruff barked and pounced on one of the Gengar, biting it. What caught everyone by surprise was when the Gengar changed into a Zoroark and threw Rockruff. Cana caught the Puppy Pokémon in her arms.

"I should have expected a slight-of-hand expert to have a Zoroark on him," Thomas growled.

"Now, for our next trick…" Hocus sneered. The room gradually grew darker.

"What the…?" Aaron gasped. Suddenly, he found himself in the arms of a gray female Exceed with long hair and fur. She had an ahoge stem from her head. She had the same gold eyes he had. Her ears and tail weren't white-tipped like his, though. "Mom…?"

"Aaron…my big, strong young man…" the gray cat said with tears in her eyes. Aaron felt a paw on his shoulder and looked behind him. There stood a tall, adult Exceed who was the spitting image of Egon, only without having gray-tipped ears and also without a gray-tipped tail.

"We're proud of you, Aaron. You and Egon both," the white male said.

"Dad… Mom…" Aaron felt tears well up in his eyes.

Cana, in spite of her shock at seeing the supposedly dead Exceeds, couldn't help but smile for Aaron. She almost didn't realize that her father, Gildarts, was standing beside her. She gasped, "D-Dad?!"

"I heard the guild was in trouble, so I came running. It's about time for me to be the dad I should have been, don't you think?" Gildarts asked with a smirk.

Cana smiled, overjoyed inside to hear those words.

Erza whirled around, as if by instinct, to see Jellal approach her. She let out a gasp. Her face grew about as red as her hair when he got down on one knee. The blue haired man said, "Erza… I'm sorry for having been so foolish. I should have considered your feelings before my own vendetta for redemption. Please…will you take me back?" He presented a diamond ring to her. Erza clenched her fists and frowned. Her anger was growing wild.

Each of the Pokemon seemed to have his or her own situation play out in front of them. Braixen found herself in a wedding dress, getting married to Combusken, for example.

Before Thomas and Vileplume stood a middle aged man wearing a suit. He had bright blue eyes and dark, curly hair. He said to Thomas, "Thomas, you're my best friend."

"…" Thomas said nothing. He jammed Xarion into the stone floor. The room was suddenly pitch black, and normal lighting returned to the room in the next instant. Xarion radiated an eerie purple aura. Jellal was gone. Gildarts was gone. Aaron's parents were gone. The middle aged man was gone. All the remained were those that were involved in the fight.

"But how…?" Hocus demanded, taking a step back as if to evade Xarion's evil pressure.

"My dad has been dead for years. I've accepted that. I still regret not getting to know him better, but that doesn't give you the right to pretend to give that to me," Thomas informed Hocus. He had a psychotic gleam in his eyes. Vileplume looked just as mad. Having been with Thomas since they were both young, Vileplume had been just as sad at his Trainer's father's funeral. "I just hope that in spite of my faults and the madness in my soul, he can be proud of me."

"I saw through the illusion, too," Erza said, now donning her Flight Armor. Swiftly and forcefully, she punched Hocus in the face. "How dare you toy with other people's emotions?!" The magician went flying into a stone pillar.

"It was…all fake…?" Cana fell to her knees. The worst part for her illusion and Erza's illusion was that those things very easily could have been real, but they weren't.

"Y-you're sick… You're a sick, sick man!" Aaron cried, tears streaking his gray furred face.

"What I'm curious about is how did you get my dad's last words to me right?" Thomas asked as he switched out Xarion for Tempest.

"In all honesty, I just guessed. No tricks up my sleeve on that one," Hocus confessed as he shook his head. He was in a daze from the blow. Embedded in the red crystal ball on his staff was a Key Stone. His Gengar (the real one) had a Gengarite earring. "Gengar, Mega Evolve!"

"Mawile, Mega Evolve!" Erza commanded and activated her Key Stone earring. Mawile's Mawilite resonated with Erza's Key Stone.

"Swampert, Mega Evolve!" Thomas commanded and paced two fingers on the Key Stone embedded in his Styler. The Swampertite in an armband on Swampert's right arm glowed in resonance to the Key Stone.

All three of the Pokémon called upon changed into their Mega Evolved forms. Hocus seemed to pull his staff apart and revealed it to be a sword and scabbard in actuality.

Thomas charged at Hocus with blinding speed and the two clashed. Their swords clashing gave off an abundance of magical energy. The bespectacled young man ducked from one of Hocus' thrusts and hoped to get Hocus with an uppercut from Tempest, but when the blade connected, the man turned into a bunch of Pidove that flew away.

"All Pokémon, attack!" Hocus' disembodied voice commanded. All of the Pokemon under his command began attacking the Fairy Tail mages and Pokémon. The magician reappeared behind Thomas and lunged at him. The teenager dodged and crossed blades with Hocus once again.

Sylveon and Braixen were trying to take down Hocus' Malamar. The struggled to keep up with its fluid movements, but Sylveon had a type advantage that would hopefully prove to be useful. Zoroark appeared behind Braixen and pinned her down. Braixen screamed and Doublade hit Zoroark with Iron Head.

Vileplume and Slurpuff used Cut and Play Rough respectively to clash with Crobat's repeated Wing Attack.

Porygon-Z kept trying to blast Spinda with Signal Beam, but it kept missing due to Spinda's erratic, tottering movements.

Chandelure was shooting flames at Cana and Rockruff, but Erza came to their rescue with her Flame Empress Armor.

Mega Gengar kept bursting from shadows at clash with Mega Mawile and Mega Swampert. Every clash would release an incredible shockwave of power.

"I'm growing weary of you, insolent boy! It's about time for the finale," Hocus jumped back from Thomas' sword attacks.

"I disagree. I haven't had my fill yet," Thomas replied. Wind surrounded Tempest's blade until a tornado enveloped it and made the blade appear to be five meters long. Hocus' blade seemed to resemble the starry night sky all of a sudden.

Aaron's wings started glowing as he was dodging attacks from Hocus' Pokémon. His movements were sharp and elegant. As if his thoughts where in sync with his human partner's, he lifted Thomas up into the air.

"So that's how it is," Hocus sneered, his cosmic blade now five meters long.

 _Aaron's magic power has risen exponentially!_ Thomas thought. He asked the Exceed, "Are you ready?"

"Always!" Aaron assured. Suddenly, his eyes glowed and he had six long, shining wings.

"What is this power…?" Thomas asked aloud.

"Shining Aera…! Happy managed to invoke it before. It's a magic stemming from a rare gene in Exceeds," Erza explained in awe.

"If Aaron can use Shining Aera, then Egon probably can, too!" Cana pointed out. All of the other fights stopped. Everyone was distracted by Aaron's wings.

Thomas closed his eyes. His thoughts were usually in sync with Swampert's whenever they used Mega Evolution. If he could manage to sync his thoughts with both Swampert and Aaron… _Yes! This can work!_

"Thomas," Aaron spoke. It sounded like three of him were speaking. "Let's combine our powers."

"Right!" Thomas complied. Tempest's windy blade started shining with the same white glow as Aaron's wings. "Swampert, I want you to use Hydro Cannon on Tempest!"

"Swam!" Mega Swampert nodded and threw Mega Gengar. Mega Swampert started charging Hydro Cannon, the most powerful Water-type move. Mega Swampert fired the water shot with a shockwave-inducing pressure. It hit the glowing tornado blade, which now looked like the sun was shining from within the eye of a hurricane.

Thomas and Aaron were surrounded by a white aura and they swung the powered-up sword. In unison, they yelled, "Shining Hurricane Wind Slicer!"

"Cosmic Saber!" Hocus lunged at their attack. The spells connected and exploded on impact. The colliding spells shook the whole Sky Fortress.

Hannah, Gray and Juvia had reached Arley's chamber with ease and were about to fight him when they felt the tremor from next door. Hannah froze. _You'd better not die on me, Thomas…_

"That sounded like…!" Juvia started to exclaim.

"Erza and the others…" Gray finished for her, his shirt gone in the blink of an eye. He smirked and said, "Those guys are too strong to be defeated by the likes of your magician."

"Don't doubt Hocus, not for a second. He's second to few when it comes to magic, and he's second to none—not even Ed—inside this fortress," Arley insisted calmly, then stomped on the floor, which shook the room even more. "Come!"

Back in Hocus' chamber, the smoke cleared. Everyone was on the ground, injured from the blast. Erza struggled to stand and saw huge cracks marking the entire chamber, which was bound to fall apart at any given moment. Panic raced through her mind. _Oh, no! I have to save everyone…_ She took a step and fell to one knee.

Aaron was unconscious. Thomas, ho was barely conscious himself, crawled to the Exceed and wrapped his arms around him. Erza panted, "Be careful…"

"I know… I'm nervous of every movement… But that spell took a lot out of both of us…" Thomas informed her, clearly beaten from taking the brunt of the blast. He nuzzled Aaron after checking his pulse and breathing. "Thank goodness you're alive… Did we win?"

"Yes," Erza replied and gestured to the unconscious magician. "You certainly did."

"Good… Now his third of the Sign will appear on the door…" Thomas sighed in relief. "Ben… Finish what they started four years ago…"

Suddenly, there was a deep crumbling sound. The cracks around the area where Thomas, Hocus and Aaron were began to widen. That whole section of the chamber broke off. Erza rushed to her comrades, but the distance was too great. She missed Thomas' hand by a narrow margin. She screamed, "NO!"

When the teenaged boy and cat fell out of sight, she began to blame herself for her own incompetence. She squeezed her eyes shut. "I wasn't going to let anyone die… And yet…"

"Lose something?" a familiar voice asked her. Erza opened her eyes. Floating before her was Jellal, who was surrounded by a golden aura and holding the unconscious Thomas and Aaron in his arms.

Erza smiled and said, "Yes, but I think I just gained it back and a little more." Her heart had pined for Jellal for the longest time, and here he was. She wished her illusion with him proposing to her was real, but in a way, this was better. This was real.


	19. Fire, Water and Ice

**I know it's been so long! My first semester of college kept me busy, as did my other stories. Here comes the next chapter. I can't believe it's been months since I updated this!**

 **Chapter 19: Fire, Water and Ice**

"Hocus…I swear I will see to it that your sacrifice is not in vain," Arley vowed. "He was a dear friend."

 _If anything happened to him…_ Hannah's fists clenched, intense heat coming off of them.

"Juvia might evaporate if she got any closer…!" Juvia muttered softly.

"I hope Erza and the others are okay just as much as you girls, but what's important now is finishing the mission like they'd want," Gray told both females.

"Right…" Hannah muttered in acknowledgement. "Thomas may be a little on the crazy side, but when it comes to a mission, he's always put it first. It's how he was trained."

"Trained?" Juvia echoed. Castform mimicked her confusion.

"When he was little, he was…different. But a man named O'Malley took him into an organization where he became a Trainer at a young age, and he would join an anti-terror organization in exchange," Hannah explained. "We first met at age 12, when we were working together as Pokémon Rangers. We just…understood each other."

"Aww!" Juvia gushed.

"The legacy of the Archfiend Hunter is most likely over. Now… Show me what you're made of!" Arley bellowed. He stomped and two Pokémon dropped from the ceiling. One was a crab-like creature covered in white hair called Crabominable. The other was an agile Hawlucha.

"Someone's ready to rumble," Gray commented and took his Ice Make stance. "Ice Make: Death Scythe!" With superb craftsmanship and astounding speed, Gray summoned an icy scythe from thin air and held it at the ready. "Let's dance!"

"The only one dancing with Gray-sama is Juvia!" Juvia announced as water swirled around her.

"Castform!" Castform exclaimed in agreement.

"Combusken, let's take this guy down for good so we can go make sure Thomas and Braixen are okay," Hannah suggested, her hands ablaze. Combusken nodded in agreement. To him, Braixen was a precious vixen that he wanted to hold forever.

Arley started spinning violently until he was a rotating ball of destruction. He went for Gray first. "Orbital Titan Double Palm!" With a single palm strike, enhanced by magic and the momentum of the rotation, Arley snapped Gray's scythe in half. Another palm strike sent him flying into Juvia and Castform. Hannah wasn't expecting someone of Arley's size and age to be so fast. Was it because of the reanimation or was he always capable of such agility? She would have taken a direct hit from Crabominable's Dynamic Punch, too, if Combusken hadn't blocked it with Double Kick.

Hawlucha launched itself up and was about to crush Combusken with Flying Press, but Hannah was ready for that. "Combusken, above you! Sky Uppercut!"

"Com…busken!" Combusken shouted, intercepting the Flying Press with Sky Uppercut in mid-air. Hannah went for Arley with a flaming sidekick, getting the older man in the leg.

"Is that any way to treat your elders?!" Arley thrust his palm at the girl, but she jumped and then used his arm as a spring board, getting even higher. Arley was so distracted by the high-rising girl that he didn't notice Gray come at him with an icy gauntlet enveloping his fist. The ice mage made contact with the ex-wrestler, getting him in the solar plexus and knocking the wind out of him.

"We've got more! Fairy Tail's not gonna lose to some old geezers who can't stay in their graves!" Gray assured, not willing to let any threat reach his home. Gray gasped when Arley grabbed his arm and through him, but he was able to catch himself by creating a staff made out of ice.

Crabominal was about to attack Combusken, but then a Flamethrower attack originating from the doorway hit the Woolly Crab Pokémon. There was Thomas's Braixen, twirling her stick. She winked at Combusken, who blushed.

"Braixen? What are you doing here?" Hannah asked, shocked to see the vulpine Fire-type.

"…I guess this means your boyfriend is fine," Gray concluded.

Meanwhile, in the lobby, both Thomas and Aaron were still unconscious. Erza worriedly mumbled, "I hope sending Braixen in was a good idea…"

"Relax," Cana sighed after taking a swig of her barrel.

"I can't believe they pushed themselves so hard," Ben said, amazed mostly by the fact that his friend was unconscious during the day. It was nothing short of a rare sight. "He always gets up so early, too."

"Aaron…" Egon mumbled as he held his younger brother's paw, holding back tears. "Why did you have to push yourself so hard… Is it because you wanted to bask in your freedom and newfound health? Because you wanted to help our friends? You…you could have died…"

"You've got a brave little brother, Egon," Happy complimented as he set a fish down next to Aaron. "Our turn will come. One of the seals is on the door. Two more."

"Then we can mangle our prey and make the kill!" Natsu growled in satisfaction and cracked his knuckles.

"I hope the others are okay," Ben commented worriedly, which was unlike him, but completely understandable.

Back in Arley's chamber, the reanimated lumberjack was unable to land a hit on Juvia due to her Water Body. Juvia commanded, "Castform, Rain Dance!"

"Castform!" Castform summoned rainclouds in the room and a downpour began. He changed form to match the weather and Juvia could feel her power increase with every drop.

"Ah, yes. I remember hearing rumors about Juvia of the Great Sea. So that's you?" Arley asked, regaining himself and taking on a fighting stance. "If I can't touch you, I'll just have to blow you away." The giant man radiated with dark aura, as did his Pokémon. Their muscles dilated and their aura grew stronger.

"This is his strength magic…! It's even stronger than last time!" Hannah exclaimed, feeling the energy that they were emitting.

"Extreme Titan Palm Thrust!" Arley thrust his palm out, sending a powerful burst of wind at Juvia. The Rain Woman skid back several meters, but managed to hold her ground afterwards. Castform was blown into her arms.

"Water Nebula!" Juvia cast the strengthened water spell with one arm while holding Castform in the other. Arley was sent flying backwards, but landed on his feet and cracked the floor in spite of having been hammered by the immense pressure of the water stream.

"Ice Make: Hammer!" Gray created an ice hammer to intercept Crabominable's powered-up Ice Punch. Hannah activated her Styler, hoping it would be able to locate the suddenly-missing Hawlucha.

"Hey. Look out. An extremely hostile Pokemon is right above you. Proceed with caution," her Styler's Voice Nav cautioned. Not having time to be impressed or dumbfounded by how personable or casual the artificial intelligence system's warning was, the curly haired Ranger dodged Hawlucha's Flying Press and hit it with a flaming fist, but the flames were not as strong as usual due to the rain.

"Aw, crap," Hannah muttered. It was at that moment that she realized that Braixen and Combusken would have the same problem. She looked back at them and went to act, but everything happened so fast.

Hawlucha went for Combusken with a magically reinforced Karate Chop, but Braixen pushed him out of the way and took the blow to the head. Staggering a bit, the vulpine Pokémon went down, bleeding from the head. Combusken went into a rage and started glowing.

Suddenly, an idea struck Hannah. She called out to Juvia, "Juvia, the weather!"

"Juvia understands!" Juvia called out and hurled Castform into the air. "Sunny Day, baby!"

Castform called on intense sunlight now and his form changed accordingly. Combusken had grown into the mighty, more mature Blaziken and the flames on its wrists doubled in size due to the intensity of the sunlight. Blaziken picked Braixen up and nuzzled her, a single tear rolling down his face. He handed the fox to Hannah before hitting the Hawlucha with an anger-filled Blaze Kick in the blink of an eye. The Fighting- and Flying-type was shot into Crabominable, who tumbled into Arley.

"You screwed with the wrong rooster's girl," Gray snickered in satisfaction before creating a doubly reinforced ice shield around himself, Juvia and Castform. "Hannah, get over here and give the word!"

"I'm coming!" Hannah called out, carrying Braixen over to behind the ice shield. "Blaziken…go nuts!"

Blaziken, like a blur, appeared in front of the ice shield and shot an intense Flamethrower at the man and two Pokémon. Then, as they were sent flying, he appeared behind them and sent them flying in another direction with Blaze Kick. Then, Blaziken ran over again and came into view before sending them all flying with Sky Uppercut, breaking the ceiling in the process. The fire chicken looked extremely mad that they would hurt Braixen in such a way.

"And that's why you don't use magic as steroids!" Hannah triumphantly lectured.

"Juvia will give that a hearty 'aye, sir'!" Juvia exclaimed.


	20. What Traps May Come

**I really haven't been writing for this story as much as I should have, so here is the next chapter. I am sorry for the wait. I was hoping to update more frequently over my break, but then I got caught up in playing Pokémon Sun, watching anime, catching up with friends, etc. Then college started up again two weeks ago.**

 **Chapter 20: What Traps May Come**

As the group that had taken on Arley the Destroyer came out of the chamber, Hana gave Juvia a round lacrima. The white Exceed reported, "I kept the focus on Gray the whole time, just like you asked!"

" _That's_ why you didn't help in the fight?!" Hannah exclaimed, suddenly realizing that the entire time, Hana had avoided participation in the battle.

"Thank you, Hana-chan!" Juvia pleasantly thanked the while Exceed as she giddily accepted the lacrima.

"I don't have anything to say…" Gray sighed.

"I'm bored, so fight me!" Natsu hollered, suddenly in the air and hurtling towards Gray. Gray smirked and looked ready to rumble in spite of having just fought. As the two inched closer, Erza, in her Flight Armor, materialized between them and brought their heads together.

"Now's not the time for infighting. Natsu, you have to be ready for when you and Ben face off with Ed 'The Thinker'," Erza chided at the dizzy teenage boys. "Just leave the rest to Lucy and the others."

"What happened to him?!" Hannah exclaimed at the sight of the unconscious Thomas.

"He went a little over the top," Cana nonchalantly informed the curly haired girl. "Fits into the guild just fine, I say."

Blaziken walked over, carrying Braixen in his arms. Hana flew to Aaron's side and held his paw, whispering to him, "Wake up soon. I want to get to know you better… I like your eyes…your ears…your fur…"

"He's so smart… Just like Dad…" Egon mumbled, sitting on the other side of Aaron.

"He awakened the Shining Aera," Cana added onto her nonchalant and possibly intoxicated report. Everyone looked surprised, but none more so than Happy.

"Shining… Aera…?" Egon echoed.

"It's a spell that runs in the genes of some Exceeds, but they say it's becoming increasingly rare," Cana explained. Her purple-eyed gaze shifted to Happy. "Our own little bluebird of happiness here can awaken it, but we never thought that we'd meet more Shining Aera Exceeds."

"Aye…!" an awestruck Happy agreed. "What happens is we grow more wings and the wings get all glow-y and our magic power goes through the roof! And a cool sword and shield appears and then the voices of our ancestors start talking to us, which is a little creepy, but still really cool! But it takes a lot of practice to use. I still have trouble moving after I use it."

"H-how long does the immobility last?" Egon asked worriedly.

"Between half a day and a full day," Happy replied, rather cheerful in spite of seeing how worried Egon was. "Don't worry; Aaron will be fine."

"…Can everyone please gather around?" Ben requested. All of his friends in the lobby of the chambers gathered around him. The Ranger sat in front of the sealed door, which now had two out of the three Involiths needed to unlock it. "A while back…I made a promise to Arceus that I would stop this thing should it ever raise again. I gave my word, not just as the incarnation of the Hero of Oblivia, but as a citizen of this world. I'm going to do everything I can to destroy the Sky Fortress."

"I'm right there with you!" Natsu excitedly exclaimed as he clenched his fists. There was a big welt on his forehead from when he and Gray collided. "Say the word and I'll blow this Fortress to—" He was cut off by his own motion sickness. Wendy's Troia had worn off. "Aw, man… That's the third time this week…"

"Carla…!" Shagotte exclaimed as she bolted into the room, out of breath. Her close were tattered. Egon and Happy were making their best efforts not to stare. "Where is Carla?"

"She went with Summer's group," Ben informed the Exceed queen of her daughter's whereabouts.

"I need to tell her about her father's eyes—" Shagotte began.

"Oh, she figured that out already," Happy reported, which had shocked Shagotte.

"That daughter of yours is a clever little lady," Erza commended Shagotte.

"I-I have nothing to do with that. She may resemble me, but…her wit is all from her father…" Shagotte said, flustered and suddenly finding herself missing her late husband, Cedric. Then she remembered Pantherlily and Myo. "I have to get back to them…"

"At any rate, once I get this door open, anyone who Cana determined would not be fighting Ed 'The Thinker' should evacuate," Ben advised. Everyone was silent.

Meanwhile, Summer and her team were in Kasa's chamber, which had even more traps than Summer had remembered. The layout had totally changed. Summer grimaced, her hopes of using her past experiences against Kasa dashed. It was only because of Carla's new eye magic that they hadn't been skewered or crushed. However, the white cat looked absolutely exhausted. Aiko wrapped her pink-furred arms around Carla and asked, "Are you okay?"

"Maybe you should take a break," Wendy advised.

"No!" Carla stubbornly declined. "We don't have time for breaks! Our guild is counting on us! My baby brother is back home, waiting for Mother and me to return!"

"Then at least let us rely on our intuition," Lucy suggested with concern. "None of us want to lose our Fairy Tail family or our country, but we need you to be strong and healthy. It looks to me like you're just wearing yourself out."

"Seriously, Carla, take a break," Summer advised and took out a Poké Ball. "They took out the wild Pokémon so we couldn't use them against the old crones… Lucky for us that Thomas convinced us to double as Trainers."

"So…you've known him a while?" Lucy guessed, trying to make casual conversation to ease the growing tension.

"Ben and I started working with him and Hannah when we were thirteen. Hannah had met Thomas the year before. And the four-eyed young coot has been involved in Pokémon training since he was six or so," Summer explained as she took out a scope with Requip.

"Six?!" Lucy echoed.

"Yeah. Explaining how would take too long, but let's just say he was part of an organization that served as the Magic Council's attack dogs," Summer concluded, examining the ceiling through the scope. One of the ceiling tiles was smaller and more distanced than the others. "Get Taurus ready."

"O-okay. What'd you see?" Lucy asked as Summer summoned a bow and a quiver of arrows.

"She took out the button," Summer muttered and shot the arrow at the floor tile directly below the ceiling tile she had noticed, which turned out to be a giant stone block meant to crush them. The arrow, weighted in the tip, hit the tile with enough force to make the hefty block fall. "Kasa really doesn't want to fight us."

"I get it. So you're going to spring the traps ahead of time and I'll have Taurus smash the obstacles," Lucy reached a conclusion to Summer's actions, smirking triumphantly at the plan.

"Bingo!" the female Ranger winked in response.

"Open, Gate of the Golden Bull! Taurus!" Lucy summoned her Zodiac Spirit.

"Moo! Looks like I've got to moove this rock so you lovely ladies can get a moove on!" Taurus moved.

"Did you really use the same pun twice?" Carla asked, unimpressed.

"I believe he did…" Aiko agreed with Carla's observation.

"Lucy's spirits are a little eccentric," Wendy pointed out. Taurus's lust for women made her feel insecure about her own petite, maturing body.

"You'll grow," Carla sighed as Taurus smashed the boulder with his ask.

Triggering and smashing traps, the team slowly carved their way to Kasa's chamber. The lavender haired woman sighed, "What a shame. You're more resourceful than I expected."

"Judging from all the noise…" Lucy muttered, "I'd say that our friends have finished their jobs. Now you're the last one in the way."

"Arms! Armor! Vernier!" Wendy enchanted Lucy and Summer's bodies, enhancing their offense, defense and speed.

"Time to finally call out my friend!" Summer finally threw her Poké Ball. Her Staraptor popped out. Lucy's Klefki was ready to go, as well.

"Alright, then… Full Body Takeover: Pokémon Soul," Kasa drew out her magic power. "Gardevoir!" The elder woman's body slimmed, her hair turned green and lengthened, and emitted an immense burst of psychic energy. Her fierce gaze shot right past Lucy and Summer, meeting Wendy's eyes. "Hypnosis." Psychic waves weaved over to Wendy, knocking her out.

"Wendy…!" Carla exclaimed.

Aiko let go of Carla and caught Wendy before she could hit her head on the hard stone floor. Summer, bewildered and horrified, was thankful for Aiko's quick thinking and compassion. Turning back to her opponent, she demanded, "What was the point of that?!"

"As if I'm going to give her a chance to enchant you two again," Kasa remarked. Lucy cracked her whip at the elderly woman, who used her Gardevoir powers to teleport behind her.

"Gotcha!" Lucy exclaimed. "Klefki, Mirror Shot!" Klefki, who was behind Kasa, blasted her with a barrage of bright light. There was a small explosion and Kasa was sent flying across the room. "If she can tap into the powers of different Pokémon, she's got to have their weaknesses, too!"

"Nice!" Summer commended her blonde friend. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Summer summoned a crossbow and repeatedly shot arrows made of wind magic at Kasa.

"Now, go, Ninjask Soul!" Kasa changed her form. Her Gardevoir features disappeared and she sprouted Ninjask wings and sped forward, dodging the wind arrows.

"Staraptor, Aerial Ace! Stay on her!" Summer commanded and her Flying- and Normal-type partner shot at Kasa with incredible precision and accuracy, landing blows again and again.

"Damn you…!" Kasa spat as she was hit. Her hands were claws and she hit Staraptor with X-Scissor to give her some distance from it. She changed forms again. "Mismagius Soul!" Her clothes turned purple and her hair turned a darker purple than it already was, taking on the shape of Mismagius's hat-like head.

"She's changing again!" Lucy exclaimed.

"I got her, Lucy!" Taurus charged forward and swung his axe, but Kasa narrowly dodged it and kneed the bull in the face with swift, blinding movements.

"Taurus!" Lucy exclaimed, only to be punched in the gut. Kasa had used Phantom Force to vanish and reappear to strike Lucy.

"Klefki!" Klefki cried out in concern, but Kasa blasted the poor key ring with Mystical Fire. Staraptor tried to make a move, but Kasa whirled around and blasted it down with Power Gem.

"Why you…!" Lucy grimaced.

"You'll pay for that!" Summer growled.

"You're all talk and no action, just like the rest of your generation!" Kasa spat and rushed towards Summer. When the two were mere inches away from each other, Summer landed a wind-enhanced punch on Kasa's face, sending her skidding back.

"Am I…?" Summer asked coldly, which was ironic considering her name was the warmest time of the year.

"Mystical Fire!" Kasa sent a burst of magic fire at Summer, who jumped over the flames and aimed her crossbow once again, sending a wind arrow at Kasa. The elder woman's ghostly reflexes kicked in and the arrow narrowly grazed her face.

"You disrespectful wretch!" the elder woman growled as Summer contorted her body and went in for a kick, which was blocked by Kasa. "Power Gem!" At that close range, there was no way Summer was dodging.

Skidding across the floor after taking the hit, Summer managed to get to her feet. She huffed, "Ben made a promise to Arceus… He's counting on me now…" Wendy had managed to come to and felt tremendous magic power radiating from Summer. Lucy felt it, too. Summer went on, "I love him too much to let him down here!"

"I doubt you know the pain that you have to endure in order to love," Kasa remarked coldly.

"Oh, I know pain in spades… Being captured by your forces, undergoing everything they put me through until all I had to hold onto was hope… No, even before then… Everything that has ever happened to me has helped me become the me I am today!" Summer shouted and a great, silver bow appeared in her hands. She drew it and an arrow of white light materialized, ready to fire. "Thank you…for helping me shape my fate! The battleground is where we grow." _Ben, I want to see your shining tears of joy… I know that you're afraid, not of this fortress's power, but of not being able to be the man you see yourself as. I'll drive away that fear here and now. I'll save that smile of yours!_ "Grandeur Arrow!" With tremendous force and a shockwave equal in magnitude, the arrow zoomed like a bullet at the elderly woman.

With a mighty boom and a powerful gust of wind, the enter chamber was ravaged. The girls screamed. Aiko, trying to stand her ground and see through the dust, grunted, "Summer…!"

Summer walked up to the pink cat and knelt down, hugging her. The wind petered out. Lucy exclaimed, "You did it!"

"I guess I need to take my leave and let you rest," Taurus informed Lucy and vanished in yellow light.

"It's not over… I had a premonition," Carla reported.

"Electrode Soul," Kasa, whose body was now round, called on her power once more. "If I go down, I'll bring you young women with me and show you how your youth is wasted on you!"

"No, don't!" Summer cried out.

"Look out!" Aiko shrieked.

Lucy reached for Klefki and grabbed a golden key.

"EXPLOSION!" Kasa screamed and exploded with enormous energy. The explosion engulfed the entire chamber.

BOOOOOOOOM!

Everyone else back in the lobby was getting worried when they heard the explosion, which shook the whole fortress. Hana exclaimed, "How are Aaron-kun and Thomas still unconscious?!"

"Thomas doesn't sleep for very long, but it's deep when he does," Ben sheepishly informed the white Exceed.

"Carla…" Shagotte worried.

"Don't worry, Miss Shagotte! Carla's too smart to die at the hands of a senile old fashionista," Happy said, trying to ease the white queen's angst. Suddenly, a pink, fluffy mass rolled out of the left chamber. It disappeared to reveal Staraptor, Klefki, Carla, Aiko, Lucy, Wendy and Summer. Happy gestured, "See?"

"I'm sorry if it wasn't a smooth landing," Aries sheepishly apologized as she stepped out of the chamber.

"No, you're a life saver. Thank you, Aries," Lucy said as she beamed at her Zodiac Spirit with grateful eyes.

The last seal appeared on the door. Ben got up and walked over to the girls, specifically Summer. He wrapped his arms around her, and she went lax in his arms. He whispered in her ear, "Thank you, Summer."


	21. Facing Destiny Once Again

**Sorry it took so long. Here you go. Enjoy!**

 **Chapter 21: Facing Destiny Once Again**

Ben was holding up a clearly exhausted Summer in his arms. He knew he could count on her to finish the job. He looked at the rest of his Fairy Tail comrades and suggested, "I think everyone but me, Egon, Natsu and Happy should escape. We're going to take this mega weapon down."

Nobody said anything. No one was sure what to say. Not only was Ben making a big promise, but it seemed as though he was expecting them to just get up and leave. None of them would readily agree to that. Suddenly, a voice made itself known. "What do you plan to do after you stop Edward?"

Everyone looked to the voice's origin. It was Thomas. Ben asked, "What do you mean?"

"As soon as you send the good doctor back to where he belongs, this behemoth is going to fall out of the sky. We're already above dry land. The force of this thing falling out of the sky could easily decimate an entire town at least," Thomas pointed out as he struggled to get to his feet. "Wow, I really overdid it, huh? Where's Braixen…?"

"We have her. She really helped save our skins back there," Hannah reported. Blaziken held the Fox Pokémon close to his chest. "She had taken a major beating in Arley's chamber."

"That's my girl…" the bespectacled Ranger rasped. Using both Xarion and Tempest to the extent that he did in the battle with Hocus had taken a lot out of him.

"You shouldn't be moving around!" Hannah exclaimed in concern.

"You nearly died back there," Erza added.

"As far as my mental health is concerned, my death was ruined. Still, it's good to be alive. Hocus being put in his place is all that matters, though," Thomas responded dryly. He turned his attention back to Ben. "Back to my question. What are you going to do about the Sky Fortress falling? How are you going to protect all of those lives, Ben?"

"Simply put," Ben confidently replied, "Natsu and I should have enough manpower to completely destroy this thing before it hits the ground. Egon and Happy will be a huge help, too."

"Ben…" Summer mumbled worriedly.

"I like the sound of that!" Natsu exclaimed as he cracked his knuckles. His huge grin told everyone that he was ready to rumble.

"Aye, sir!" Happy happily agreed. Egon nodded in approval.

"That barely sounds like an idea; it hardly constitutes a plan," Carla muttered, holding her head with a paw as if she was in pain.

"Carla, are you okay?" Happy asked out of concern, walking over to her and taking her other paw in his own. "You don't look so good. You look like you have a headache. Do you want me to get you something?"

"You're not in any sort of position to get me anything," Carla reminded him. Sighing, she said, "Thank you, Happy. I'm fine. I think I overused my new eye magic."

"Your father's eyes…" Shagotte pointed out as she walked over to Carla, knelt down and gave her a hug. "He'd be so proud of you…"

"Mother, m-my vision is blurry…" Carla admitted, on the verge of tears. "Am I going to go blind…?"

"No, baby… Your eyes are just tired. Your father used to overuse that magic all the time. It'll pass, I promise," Shagotte assured as she stroked the back of her daughter's head. "I wish you had gotten to meet Daddy…"

"Her father must have been a very good tomcat, Miss Shagotte," Wendy said softly, taking them both into a hug.

"I'm here, guys!" Kellyn exclaimed as he burst in, Zane right behind him.

"Great! Just in time for us to get out of here!" Thomas replied as he stood, his legs wobbling. Hannah held onto him for support. Hana had Aaron's head on her lap.

"You mean…?" Ben slowly said. His comrades exchanged an extensive series of glances before nodding at him, Egon, Happy and Natsu. Pichu was strumming his ukulele and Charmander was humming along.

"Don't die on us," Lucy ordered as she hugged Natsu. "Please… Fairy Tail wouldn't be the same…"

"C'mon, Lucy, this is us we're talking about! Ben's a Top Ranger and breaking stuff is a specialty of mine!" Natsu cheekily reminded the blonde wizard.

"Char, Char!" Charmander added with the same confident charisma that Natsu had.

"Wow, that Charmander really takes after its Trainer," Happy pointed out. "Makes me feel lucky, but that's my papa, so I'll just keep on being me."

"Um… I don't think I know what you're talking about anymore," Carla admitted, at a loss as to how else to respond.

Aaron's golden eyes fluttered open and he tried to get up. His body wouldn't respond to his commands. The gray cat started to panic, "W-what's wrong with me…? I can't move!"

"Shh, shh, it's okay, Aaron," Hana soothingly said as she stroked his face, which made him blush.

"Yeah, buddy, Happy said this is normal," Egon added as he held up Aiko, who had been roughed up in the explosion of Kasa's chamber.

"I got you," Zane said as he flew over. The brown Exceed hoisted the immobile gray Exceed into his arms. "There. Now how are we getting everyone out of here?"

"Can you fly?" Summer asked Staraptor, who gave an affirmative nod.

"I should have enough magic power to turn anyone who can't fly on their own into a card," Cana reported.

"We'll head back to the bottom and round up our friends on the way. Don't do anything too stupid," Gray advised. It had occurred to everyone at this moment that Gray was only in his boxers.

"Says the guy with no pants!" Natsu cried out.

"Where did they go

"Zane, please…take care of my brother," Egon requested, distraught concern lingering in his sea green eyes.

"As if he were my own, Egon," Zane assured with a kindhearted smile.

"Brother, when I can move again, I'm giving you a huge hug," Aaron promised with a small grin and tears in his golden eyes. "W-we're not letting anything come between us! We promised each other that when Mom died. Brother, I…I saw Mom and Dad…but it wasn't real. This is real. Our new family is real. Mom and Dad are waiting, but they don't want to see us yet."

"Yeah," Egon agreed, flying over to Zane and hugging Aaron. "We'll make them proud. You and I… We're going to continue Dad's research. We're going to help Ben and Thomas make their dreams come true. We'll start families and do all sorts of fun things as a family."

"Yeah… Yeah, we will… Provided I ever get married," Aaron said with a hint of doubt in his voice.

"Y-you will, Aaron-kun!" Hana said with a scarlet blush coating her cheeks. She hid behind Hannah's leg.

"Aww! Kitty love!" Hannah cheerily exclaimed and picked up her Exceed friend.

"And I have got you, friend!" Erza exclaimed as she held Thomas like a bride.

"I'm not sure Hannah would approve!" the bespectacled swordsman cried out. In spite of the awkwardness, they were in an emergency. Thus, Hannah gave Erza a thumbs-up.

"Triumph!" Erza exclaimed, requipping into her Black Wing Armor.

"Ben, be careful," Summer cautioned as she leaned on Staraptor.

"We're counting on you," Kellyn reminded the two Fairy Tail wizards. One by one, with gradually greater reluctance, mages left the lobby chamber.

Finally, it was only Happy, Natsu, Ben, Egon, Ukulele Pichu and Charmander. Ben took a deep breath and turned to the door. The completed seal was glowing brightly on the door. All he had to do was unlock it. Putting his Styler into Sign Mode, he aimed at the door and poured his heart and soul into the Capture Disc. This would be the last time he ever had to go up the stairs that awaited him.

"Let's send this guy back where he belongs," Natsu said.

"So I can eat fish and fawn over Carla in peace," Happy added. Egon, Pichu and Charmander gave him a funny look. "What? Too selfish? Egon, I've seen the way you look at Aiko!"

Ben took another deep breath. "Ranger Sign!" He shot the disc at the wall and guided it along the continuous figure that was the seal. Once he got from one end to the other, the entire door lit up and the three pieces of the door separated. His Capture Disc shot back into the Styler.

"Okay," Ben said, taking a step, "this is it."


	22. The Road of Fate

**I know it's been ages! Here's the first part of the battle you've all been waiting for! This summer has been more hectic than I anticipated, so thank you for your patience. Enjoy! Also, I presume Ukulele Pichu knows Thunder because (spoiler!) it uses a move similar to Thunder's description and attack animation in the Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs game on the Steelhead, far into the story.**

 **Chapter 22: The Road of Fate**

As Ben, Natsu, Pichu, Charmander, Egon and Happy made their way up the spiraling staircase, they could feel a dark, intense aura growing more potent with every step (or wing flap in the case of the Exceeds). Ben gritted his teeth. He knew he and his companions were about to enter a fight for their lives. In addition to that, this fight never should have happened in the first place. He looked down at Pichu as they were running. His ukulele-toting partner had a determined gleam shimmering in its eyes. Ever since he had first gone to Oblivia when he was thirteen, he and this special Pokémon had spent every day together, fighting through thick and thin. They had been in battle after battle and capture after capture.

The Ranger glanced up at Egon. He saw the same determination in the flying feline's green eyes. He hadn't known Egon for nearly as long, but they had already become so close. He knew he could put his full trust in Egon and in all of his Fairy Tail friends. Natsu spoke up, "Hey, Ben!"

"Yeah?" Ben replied curiously.

"Once we put this old geezer in the ground again, we can drown ourselves in an all-you-can-eat buffet! You got it?" Natsu promised, not giving Ben any room to refuse.

"Yeah. Yeah, you got it!" Ben agreed, revitalized by the display of confidence. Natsu just somehow had that effect on his friends. No one was giving up when he was around.

"Will there be fish?" Happy asked excitedly about the buffet.

"All the fish you can stomach!" Natsu promised.

"Char, Char!" Charmander chimed in.

"Sounds good to me!" Egon said.

"Pichu!" Pichu agreed.

"We'll have earned it. Us and the friends who fought so hard and nearly died just so we could get this far. We'll stop Ed 'The Thinker' once and for all. For our family and for the fate of the world!" Ben exclaimed, full of vigor and determination. The group ascended to the doorway to a battle that would determine the fate of the Kingdom of Fiore. No pressure…

"Shall we?" Egon suggested, smirking confidently.

"Let's go," Ben said. The small group of wizards and Pokémon stormed into the highest room in the Sky Fortress. There stood his old foe, Dr. Edward, alias The Thinker. Seeing a man who had supposedly vanished into the palms of death years ago, a man who secretly controlled a group of a Pokémon abducting militia, as well as a man who, in fear of old age, sought immortality and terrorized an entire island chain to achieve it made his blood boil.

"Hello, Ranger Ben. Good to see you again," Edward greeted with a cruel smirk spread across his face.

"I could say the same…anywhere but here. This fortress is a weapon of mass destruction. I can't allow it to dominate the skies once more," Ben forcefully declared.

"In short, we're kicking your butt, old geezer," Natsu summarized, cracking his knuckles. Sparks appeared to ignite as his knuckle joints let out that sweet, sweet cracking sound.

"I'm not about to give up my second shot at this life so easily. You should know that after our clashes," Edward cautioned the teen wizards. "No matter what you throw at me, I will not waver."

"Enough talk," Natsu growled, clenching his fist before rushing at the undead fiend. "I don't want to hear anymore of your selfish crap! You're so desperate to live that you'd watch millions die?!" His fist igniting in anger, Natsu threw a devastating punch at Edward, but the old man threw up a shield of magic energy to absorb the blow. The Fire Dragon Slayer jumped back.

"His aura is stronger this time… He's not even wearing the Golden Armor…" Ben muttered. "This incredible magic power…it must have been given to him by another and he's using it as a substitute for the Golden Armor. Alright then…"

"I believe it's my turn," Edward declared and fired purple magic bullets at the group. Ben grabbed Pichu and Egon and ducked behind a pillar for cover. Natsu used his Fire Dragon Iron Fist on the floor to launch pieces of the stone tiles upwards to cover himself, Happy and Charmander.

"I'd bet anything that he has a high affinity for a ton of different kinds of magic!" Ben called over to Natsu.

"Then he's just like Hades was," Natsu grunted. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ben's finger glow. The Ranger drew the Sign of Suicune in the air with his finger and it appeared on his forehead.

Ben rushed at Edward, who had red magic circles that were reminiscent of eyes appear behind him. The magic circles fired beams at him, but Ben disappeared from the view of the naked eye and reappeared a few meters on the left, continuing his speedy onslaught.

"Alright, Ben! That's the way!" Egon cheered.

"Pichu, Pichu!" Ukulele Pichu cheered. Ben suddenly appeared before Edward and blasted him with a high-pressure stream of water.

"Whoa! How is he doing that?" Happy asked Egon, awestruck by the display of speed and power.

"While it's true that Ben can't summon Pokémon with Signs without an open sky, he's figured out that he can use the Signs granted to him by the Pokémon he's befriended to draw out their power. What you just witnessed was Suicune's Water-type powers and Step! Cool, right?" Egon explained, proud of his knowledge on his companion's abilities.

Edward was sent flying by the water, but caught himself on the wall. The elderly man started running along the wall, glowing white chains made of magic sprouting from his palms. Ben commanded, "Pichu, quick, use Thunder!"

"Pichu!" Pichu launched a wicked thunderbolt at the adversary. Edward vanished and reappeared behind Ben, chaining him up. Charmander rushed from Edward's blind spot and cut the chains with Slash.

"My Charmander's got the moves, man! Wow! 'Atta boy!" Natsu hollered in triumph, feeling accomplished as Charmander's Trainer.

"We all train a lot in Lucy's house. You know, I really thought she would join us since we even got her a dumbbell," Happy stated with a big smile on his face.

"I hope the others are almost out. Soon as we're done with Ed 'The Thinker', we're shutting the place down," Ben decided as he drew Entei's Sign with his finger. The mark blazed onto his forehead and his fist ignited with passionate flame.

"I couldn't have said it better myself," Natsu agreed as he smirked and cracked his fiery knuckles.


End file.
